-t  date  «mmped  below 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH 

UNIVERSITY  OF  GAUF^RNiA 
LIBRARY 

L.OS   ANGELAS.  CALIF. 


SIENA 


SIENA 


THE   STORY   OF  A   MEDIEVAL 
COMMUNE 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS   AND   MAPS 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 
MDCCCCIX 


7  7 1  o  8 

«     0    -».  \J   >.-/ 


COPYRIGHT,  1909.  BY 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

Published  March,  1909 


URL 


35  35 


PREFACE 

THE  persistent  interest  manifested  by  the  public  in  the  story 
of  the  Italian  communes  will,  I  hope,  make  an  apology  for  the 
present  book  on  Siena  unnecessary.  The  method  which  I 
have  pursued,  however,  as  well  as  my  general  purpose,  require 

^        a  brief  explanatory  statement. 

^  Though  availing  myself,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  of  the 

v\  work  of  my  many  predecessors  in  this  field,  I  have  constantly 
striven  to  arrive  at  an  independent  view  of  every  circumstance 
of  Sienese  history  by  a  personal  study  of  the  sources,  both 
printed  and  unprinted.  But  while  my  critical  method  was  as 
severe  as  I  could  make  it,  during  the  labors  of  composition  I 

^  v  kept  in  mind  a  prospective  audience,  composed,  not  of  a  small 
group  of  specialists,  but  of  that  larger  body  of  men  and  women 
who  constitute  a  spiritual  brotherhood  by  reason  of  their  com- 
mon interest  in  the  treasure  of  the  past.  My  book  addresses 
itself  frankly  to  the  general  reader.  A  considerable  and 
flourishing  group  of  historical  students  would  have  that  im- 
portant, though  alas!  often  mythological,  member  of  the  com- 
monwealth wholly  ignored,  on  the  ground  of  his  being  as  in- 
capable  of  raising  himself  to  the  level  of  the  high  concerns  of 
scholarship  as  he  is  unworthy  to  receive  its  benefits.  I  ven- 
ture to  differ  with  this  opinion,  and  make  bold  to  affirm  my 
belief  that  scholarship  practised  as  the  secret  cult  of  a  few 
initiates,  amidst  the  jealous  and  watchful  exclusion  of  the 
public,  may  indeed  succeed  in  preserving  its  principles  from 
contamination,  but  must  pay  for  the  immunity  obtained  with 
the  failure  of  the  social  and  educational  purposes  which  are 
its  noblest  justification. 


vi  PREFACE 

Whoever  is  not  fundamentally  hostile  to  the  popularizing 
function  of  scholarship  which  I  have  just  expounded  will  not 
quarrel  with  my  system  of  notes  and  references.  Having  the 
general  reader  in  view,  I  considered  it  highly  important  not 
to  confuse  or  irritate  him  with  the  distracting  rumble  of  a 
vast  accompanying  apparatus.  I  determined  on  a  minimum 
in  this  respect — a  minimum  to  be  determined  by  two,  as  I 
thought,  simple  and  intelligible  criteria.  In  the  first  place,  I 
was  resolved  that  my  references  should  be  complete  enough  to 
enable  the  scholar  to  possess  himself,  in  a  general  way,  of  my 
equipment  and  to  test  the  accuracy  of  my  procedure,  and 
further,  I  wished  to  supply  the  general  reader,  who  might 
desire  to  enlarge  his  information  on  any  matter  touched  upon 
in  the  text,  with  a  convenient  list  of  references.  The  carrying 
of  this  plan  to  its  logical  conclusion  seemed  to  call  for  a  cata- 
logue of  all  the  printed  works  mentioned  in  the  footnotes. 
This  catalogue  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  book  in  the  form 
of  an  appendix.  Of  course  it  lays  no  claim  to  being  a  com- 
plete bibliography  of  the  subject. 

It  remains  to  say  a  word  as  to  the  plan  and  contents  of  my 
book.  I  have  not  written  a  political  history  of  Siena.  To  be 
sure,  I  have  dealt  with  the  political  evolution  of  the  commune, 
but  only  as  one,  though  an  important,  phase  of  the  larger 
problem  of  its  civilization.  On  this  point,  on  the  civilization 
of  Siena,  I  have  concentrated  all  my  efforts.  Starting  with  the 
simple  fact  that  this  town  of  southern  Tuscany,  in  the  period 
of  its  freedom,  erected  for  its  comfort  and  delight  a  diversified, 
engaging,  and  wholly  distinctive  house  of  life,  I  determined 
to  illuminate  this  attractive  edifice  from  as  large  a  number  of 
angles  as  possible.  As  soon  as  my  object  had  thus  clearly 
defined  itself,  I  could  not  fail  to  discover  that  a  topical  treat- 
ment of  the  material  was  better  suited  to  my  ends  than  a 
strictly  chronological  one.  The  latter  system  would  have  re- 
quired the  steady  following  of  a  score  of  paths,  coupled  with 


PREFACE  vii 

the  perpetual  retention  in  my  hands  of  a  hundred  interwoven 
threads.  I  preferred  the  plan  of  following  through  a  series  of 
selected  threads  in  the  order  in  which  I  took  them  up,  and 
of  meeting  the  requirements  of  unity  by  an  occasional  chapter 
weaving  my  constituent  elements  into  a  connected  whole.  By 
isolating  for  examination  the  nobles,  the  clergy,  the  merchants, 
and  the  other  classes  of  the  commonwealth,  by  following  sepa- 
rately the  developments  of  public  and  private  life,  by  review- 
ing the  achievements  of  the  various  arts,  I  have,  as  it  were, 
delivered  to  my  reader  the  small  colored  cubes,  which  of 
their  own  accord  should  fall  into  suitable  relations,  achieving 
the  end  I  had  in  view — as  complete  a  mosaic  of  Sienese  culture 
as  was  possible  within  the  compass  of  a  single  volume. 

But  even  should  I  have  attained  this  purpose,  I  should  not 
feel  that  I  had  reached  my  ultimate  goal,  unless  I  had  suc- 
ceeded in  still  another  matter  far  more  difficult  and  subtle, 
and  had  brought  out  clearly  and  convincingly  that  the  achieve- 
ments of  Sienese  civilization  are  nothing  but  the  successive 
emanations  of  a  town  personality,  which,  though  unseen  and 
intangible,  was  and  remains  more  real  than  its  surviving  monu- 
ments of  brick  and  stone.  The  Siena  of  the  Middle  Age,  in 
spite  of  its  narrow  limits,  was  a  nation,  and  had  a  distinctive 
soul  as  certainly  as  any  nation  which  plays  a  role  on  the 
political  stage  of  our  own  day.  Shy  as  a  swallow  this  im- 
perishable personality  still  flits  over  the  hills  among  the  silvery 
olives,  or  in  the  purple  dusk  wanders  like  a  stray  wind  among 
the  narrow  streets.  As  the  one  gift  utterly  worth  giving,  I 
would  fain  hope  that  I  had  disclosed  to  the  reader  something 
of  the  charm  and  diffused  fragrance  of  this  local  spirit,  in- 
tegral and  indestructible  part  of  the  eternal  spirit  of  truth  and 
beauty;  failing  in  this,  I  have  failed  in  the  most  essential  part 
of  my  task,  and  must  consider  myself  to  be  making  a  poor 
return  for  the  generous  hospitality  of  which,  during  many  years 
and  at  various  seasons,  I  have  been  the  grateful  recipient.  For 


viii  PREFACE 

Siena  still  has  the  large  heart  which,  according  to  an  old  in- 
scription on  Porta  Camellia,  swings  as  wide  open  to  the 
stranger  as  the  gate  whereby  he  enters:  cor  magis  tibi  Sena 
pandit.  Not  to  have  stamped  upon  a  book  dealing  with  the 
City  of  the  Virgin  a  likeness,  in  some  degree,  at  least  worthy 
of  its  past  and  present,  is  to  invite  the  oblivion  which  is  the 
wage  of  incapacity. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAOB 

I    THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIJEVAL  SIENA  i 

II    THE  FEUDAL  AGE  AND  THE  EMERGENCE  OF  THE 

FREE  COMMUNE 29 

III  THE  SIENESE  CHURCH 72 

IV  THE  BURGHERS 95 

V    THE  LAWS  AND  INSTITUTIONS   .        .        .        .127 

VI     THE  RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE  ....     149 

VII  THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH  CEN- 
TURY: THE  NINE,  THE  TWELVE,  AND  THE 
REFORMERS 192 

VIII     THE  SIENESE  CONTADO 229 

IX    THE  RELIGIOUS  SPIRIT  AND  SAINT  CATHERINE  .    25° 

^  X    THE  Civic  SPIRIT  AND  THE  BUILDING  OF  THE 

CITY 275 

XI    THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  AND  THE  ADORNMENT  OF 

THE  CITY 309 

XII  MANNERS  AND  PASTIMES;  LITERARY  AND  IN- 
TELLECTUAL ACTIVITY 337 

XIII    SAN  GALGANO:    THE  STORY  OF  A  CISTERCIAN 

ABBEY  OF  THE  SIENESE  CONTADO.        .        .     361 

v    XIV    THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA 387 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 423 

INDEX 427 

ix 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

View  of  Siena  from  the  Public  Gardens          .        Frontispiece 

PACING  PAGE 

The  Abbey  Church  of  Sant'  Antimo      .         .         .         .12 

Interior  view. 

Picture  of  a  monk  of  S.  Galgano 24 

From  a  book-cover  in  the  Archivio  di  Stato. 

Before  the  Fortress  of  Montalcino  .....  42 

La  Rocca  di  Tintinnano  or  La  Rocca  d'Orcia          .         .  48 

The   House  of  Saint  Catherine        .....  74 

Fonte  Branda 84 

Saint  Catherine       . 98 

By  Andrea  Vanni  (in  the  Church  of  San  Domenico). 

The  Duomo  Nuovo         .         .         .         .         .         .         .no 

Interior  view  of  the  Cathedral  .         .         .         .         .124 

General  view  of  the  Cathedral          .....     134 

The  Palazzo  Pubblico 142 

View  of  the  Campo  from  the  Tower  of  the  Cathedral       .     152 
The  Palazzo  Buonsignori         .         .         .         .         .         .166 

The  Palazzo  Tolomei      .         .         .         .         .         .         .172 

Fonte  Ovile    .  184 

Jacopo  della  Quercia's  fountain  before  its  removal  from 
the  Campo 200 

Porta  Romana         ........     212 

The  Palazzo  Piccolomini          ......     224 

The  Ancona 232 

By  Duccio  (in  the  Opera  del  Duomo). 


xii  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

The  Majestas  ........     244 

By  Simone  Martini  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Guidoriccio  da  Fogliano 256 

By  Simone  Martini  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Allegory  of  Good  Government         .....     256 

By  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Detail — Guidoriccio  da  Fogliano  .....     260 

By  Simone  Martini  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Detail  from  the  Allegory  of  Good  Government         .         .     260 

By  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Madonna  and  Child        .......     272 

By  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  (in  S.  Eugenio  Outside  Porta  S. 
Marco). 

Madonna,  Child,  Saints,  and  Angels        ....     284 
By  Matteo  di  Giovanni  (in  the  Galleria  delle  Belle  Arti). 

Charity  ..........     296 

A  detail  from  Jacopo  della  Quercia's  Fountain  (in  the  Loggia 
of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico). 

Wrought-iron  Gate  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Palazzo  Pub- 
blico   .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     302 

Bronze  Banner-holder 334 

By  Cozzarelli  (attached  to  the  Palazzo  del  Magnifico). 

The  ruined  Abbey  Church  of  S.  Galgano         .         .         .     362 
Interior  view  of  San  Galgano  .....     384 

San  Bernardino  Preaching  in  the  Campo         .         .         .     394 
By  Sano  di  Pietro  (in  the  Sala  del  Capitolo  of  the  Cathedral. 

Siena  During  the  Siege 414 

From  an  old  print  in  the  Uffizi  at  Florence. 

MAPS 

Siena  and  the  region  between  the  Arno,  the  Apennines, 
and  Monte  Amiata 38 

The  Chianti  Boundary  between  Florence  and  Siena     .     178 
Battle  of  Montaperti 178 


SIENA 


SIENA 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIAEVAL  SIENA 

THE  province  of  central  Italy,  known  as  Tuscany 
in  our  day,  has  a  broken  and  richly  diversified 
physical  character,  due  to  its  position  between 
the  mountains  and  the  sea.  The  Arno  is  its  chief  artery. 
Rising  among  the  bare  crags  of  the  upper  Apennines,  it 
drops  by  gradual  stages  from  the  mountains  to  the  foot- 
hills, and,  holding  a  general  westerly  direction,  makes 
its  way  through  a  plain,  growing  ever  broader,  greener, 
and  more  smiling,  to  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  In  its 
proud  progress  it  receives,  now  at  its  right  hand,  now 
at  its  left,  innumerable  tributaries.  The  northern 
affluents  flow,  like  it,  from  the  Apennines,  which  sweep 
seaward  at  this  point,  marching  with  the  river  and 
raising  a  lofty  barrier  between  Tuscany  and  the  Lom- 
bard plain;  the  southern  streams,  on  the  other  hand, 
come  from  the  Tuscan  upland,  across  which  the  high 
central  Apennines  look  out  upon  the  open  sea. 

Within  this  Tuscan  upland,  defined  by  the  soaring 
Apennines,  the  city-bearing  Arno,  and  the  blue  Mediter- 
ranean, befell  the  human  circumstances  which  will 
engage  our  attention  in  this  book.  Though  small  in 
area,  it  is  a  region  fair  to  look  upon,  being  a  broken 


2  SIENA 

plateau  of  many  valleys  cut  by  many  streams,  which, 
as  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show,  run  in  the  main  in 
two  directions — to  the  north  and  to  the  west.  The 
northward-flowing  waters  feel  their  way  in  thread-like 
streams,  capable,  however,  of  sudden,  torrential  expan- 
sion, to  the  Arno,  while  the  westward  rivers  cut  a  difficult 
and  circuitous  path  through  frowning  barriers  of  wood 
and  rock  to  the  sea.  Northward  the  rivers  flow  and 
westward,  a  point  of  capital  importance,  for  on  the 
irregular  central  ridge  dividing  the  streams  lies  the 
town  of  Siena,  clearly  designed  by  the  place  it  occu- 
pies to  be  the  ruler  of  the  region.  Rising  almost  under 
its  walls  the  Elsa  River  finds  its  way  after  a  capri- 
cious journey  into  the  Arno,  while  a  network  of  small 
streams,  all  tributary  to  the  rapid  Ombrone,  carries  the 
memory  of  the  fair  queen  of  the  upland  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean. 

If  beauty  of  situation  determined  the  importance  of 
a  city,  Siena  would  have  been  second  to  none  in  Italy. 
But,  unfortunately,  the  unrivalled  site  imposed  a  num- 
ber of  permanent  material  drawbacks.  One  alone  of 
these,  the  lack  of  water,  constituted  no  less  than  a  ca- 
lamity; for  at  their  sources  among  the  hills  the  Elsa  and 
the  Ombrone  are  mere  brooks,  not  only  unsuited  to  navi- 
gation but  incapable  even  of  yielding  a  liberal  supply 
of  drinking  water  for  man  and  beast.  Was  it  conceiv- 
able that  Siena  should  ever  overcome  this  fundamental 
disability  ?  Was  it  at  all  likely  that  a  town  suffering 
from  scarcity  of  water  and  deprived  of  what  in  early 
times  was  always  the  safest  means  of  communication 
with  the  surrounding  territory,  a  generous  water-course, 
should  ever  become  a  great  directive  agent  of  civiliza- 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDLEVAL  SIENA       3 

tion  ?  No,  its  action  would  necessarily  be  limited,  its 
world  would  be  hardly  more  than  the  dependent  dis- 
trict which  the  citizen,  gazing  from  the  ramparts,  saw 
lying  at  his  feet.  The  story  of  Siena,  set  high  and  dry 
among  the  hills,  could  never  be  the  tale  of  a  world- 
centre,  such  as  Venice,  or  Milan,  or  Florence,  bestriding 
each,  like  a  colossus,  one  of  the  great  and  convenient 
highways  of  the  Italian  peninsula. 

And  yet,  within  its  narrow  provincial  limits  the  des- 
tiny and  fortunes  of  Siena  might  rise  to  inspiring  and 
memorable  heights.  Any  visitor  of  the  town  has  still 
brought  vividly  home  to  his  attention  that,  in  compen- 
sation for  its  lack  of  navigable  streams  and  its  relative 
remoteness  from  the  crowded  lines  of  trade,  it  is  en- 
dowed with  a  lavish  sum  of  minor  natural  advantages. 
The  fair  ridge  upon  which  it  lies  enjoys  an  admirable 
climate,  secure  from  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold;  the 
air,  washing  the  middle  levels  between  the  sea  and  the 
Apennines,  is  splendidly  bracing  and  salubrious;  and 
although  the  countryside  is  broken  and  uneven,  being 
trenched  in  all  directions  by  numerous  torrential 
brooks,  the  soil  is  generally  fertile,  bearing  all  the 
products  of  the  temperate  zone  and  excellently  adapted 
on  the  steep  hillsides  for  the  cultivation  of  the  vine  and 
olive.  Here,  then,  was  from  of  old  a  sufficient  promise 
of  riches,  the  necessary  foundation  for  every  higher 
civilization.  But  the  civilization  itself  would  have  to 
be  the  work  of  the  people,  the  men  and  women  of  Siena. 
Would  Siena  ever  reap,  to  match  her  material  oppor- 
tunities, that  nobler  harvest,  the  harvest  of  the  mind,  the 
harvest  of  the  soul  ?  To  this,  the  human  issue,  every 
question  in  history  in  the  end  comes  back,  wherefore  we 


4  SIENA 

may  assert  that  as  Siena  produced  a  worthy  or  a  negligi- 
ble race  of  men,  it  would  be  remembered  or  forgotten 
among  the  cities  of  the  world.  And  because  its  success 
in  this  field,  in  the  mediaeval  period  at  least,  was  great, 
because  in  some  respects  it  was  even  astonishing,  I 
need  offer  no  apology  for  calling  the  attention  of  a  later 
time  to  the  ruling  city  of  the  Tuscan  uplands.  It  is  med- 
iaeval Siena  which  is  our  concern  in  this  book,  but  be- 
cause this  mediaeval  city  was  founded  on  an  earlier  past, 
I  may  be  permitted  to  glance  rapidly,  by  way  of  intro- 
duction to  our  subject,  at  some  of  its  antecedent  phases. 

ETRUSCAN    SIENA 

At  the  time  when  we  get  our  first  certain  information 
about  Tuscany  it  was  called,  in  the  Latin  tongue, 
Etruria,  and  was  inhabited  by  a  people  known  to  their 
Latin  neighbors  as  Etruscans.  The  Roman  writers, 
through  whom  the  Etruscans  were  introduced  to 
history,  recount  the  vigorous  resistance  which  they 
offered  to  the  encroachments  of  the  ambitious  republic 
in  the  Tiber  valley.  We  hear  of  their  great  cities, 
perched  high  on  hills,  like  eagles'  nests,  and  called  by 
names  which  prove  that  they  were  the  authentic  ances- 
tors of  Volterra,  Chiusi,  Fiesole,  Arezzo,  and  many 
other  still  existing  settlements.  In  the  third  century 
before  Christ  the  Romans,  after  a  long  struggle,  com- 
pleted the  conquest  of  Etruria  (280  B.C.),  and  the 
cities,  referred  to  by  the  Roman  writers  as  centres  of 
opulence,  became  allies  (socii)  of  Rome  and  lost  their 
independence.  Therewith  the  process  of  their  Latin- 
ization  set  in,  but  had  hardly  gone  very  far  when  the 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA       5 

towns  were  ruined  and  the  country  turned  into  a  desert 
by  the  long  civil  struggle  which  preceded  the  downfall 
of  the  republic.  Julius  Caesar,  and,  after  him,  Augustus, 
the  great  restorer,  gave  their  best  efforts  to  the  recovery 
of  Italy  from  the  awful  harrying  of  the  civil  wars,  and 
by  means  of  colonies  planted  throughout  the  peninsula, 
in  desolated  towns,  or  on  new  sites,  set  flowing  once 
more  the  arrested  currents  of  life.  Naturally  the 
Roman  colonies  produced  a  Roman  civilization.  In 
Etruria  such  natives  as  the  wars  had  spared  were 
absorbed  by  the  conquerors,  and  presently  adopted  the 
Roman  speech,  dress,  and  manners.  Etruria  forgot 
that  it  had  been  Etruscan  and  proudly  called  itself 
Latin.  To  all  intents  and  purposes  the  transformation 
was  effected  in  the  lifetime  of  Augustus. 

The  Etruscan  people,  which  thus  dropped  out  of 
history  at  the  moment  when  the  republic  assumed  the 
purple  and  became  an  empire,  has  exercised  a  strong 
and  persistent  fascination  on  the  historian,  the  philolo- 
gist, and  the  student  of  art.  Who  were  they  ?  whence 
came  they  ?  with  what  race  or  races  known  to  history 
were  they  connected  by  blood  and  speech  ?  Some 
five  thousand  inscriptions  in  their  tongue,  which  might 
clear  up  the  mystery,  have  been  collected  in  various 
repositories,  but  they  remain  dumb,  as  no  philologist 
has  penetrated  the  secret  of  their  language.  The  only 
thing  which  may  be  reasonably  deduced  from  these 
literary  remains  is  that  the  Etruscans  were  not  related 
to  the  Italic  peoples  who  occupied  the  country  to  the 
south  and  east  of  them,  nor  to  the  Celts,  who,  having 
forced  their  way  across  the  Alps  and  seized  the  valley 
of  the  Po,  bounded  them  on  the  north.  Far  more 


6  SIENA 

responsive  to  the  inquirer  than  the  unread  inscriptions 
of  this  strange  people  are  their  other  archaeological 
remains.  No  race  of  men  ever  gave  more  loving  care 
to  the  disposal  of  its  dead,  and  none,  judging  by  existing 
fragments  of  city  walls,  delighted  in  such  gigantic 
masonry.  Courses  of  stone  still  visible  at  Fiesole, 
Cortona,  Volterra,  and  elsewhere,  fill  the  mind  with 
amazement  at  the  vanished  folk  who  could  build  on  this 
colossal  scale.  Even  more  suggestive  is  the  revelation 
afforded  by  the  uncovered  burial  places.  Sometimes 
in  the  flanks  of  hills,  sometimes  under  the  shelter  of  a 
crumbling  citadel,  have  been  found,  frequently  hol- 
lowed out  of  the  living  rock,  underground  streets  and 
cities  of  the  dead;  and  throughout  the  region  humbler 
vaults  with  rows  of  burial  urns  have  been  turned  up 
by  a  chance  thrust  of  the  peasant's  spade.  As  the 
Etruscan  custom  was  to  lay  with  the  dead  in  their  last 
resting-places  common  objects  of  daily  use,  and  often, 
as  well,  precious  utensils  and  ornaments,  such  as  vases, 
ear-rings,  bracelets,  scarabs,  and  mirrors,  the  uncovered 
graves  have  put  us  in  possession  of  a  body  of  material 
attesting  a  high  degree  of  craftsmanship  and  a  developed 
sense  of  the  beautiful,  and  bearing  profoundly  upon  the 
origin  and  character  of  this  mysterious  people.  The 
derivation  of  many  of  their  remains  from  the  Hellenic 
world,  whether  directly  by  exchange  or  indirectly  by 
local  imitation,  appears  at  a  glance.  What,  therefore, 
in  view  of  this  association,  was  the  exact  share  of  the 
native  genius  in  these  exquisite  evidences  of  culture  ? 
This  and  a  hundred  related  questions  lie  beyond  our 
scope.  For  our  purposes  it  must  suffice  definitely  to 
assure  ourselves  that  the  Etruscans  were  a  people  of 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA      7 

no  mean  ability,  who,  even  before  the  period  of  their 
contact  with  the  Romans,  had  reached  a  notable  level 
of  civilization. 

In  the  days  of  Etruscan  power,  when  Chiusi  and 
Volterra  were  defending  their  independence  against  the 
Roman  republic  to  the  south,  was  there  an  Etruscan 
settlement  at  Siena  ?  The  Roman  records  make  no 
mention  of  it,  and  yet  we  know  now  by  irrefutable 
evidence  that  such  a  settlement  existed:  no  vigorous 
centre  of  commerce  or  of  war,  but  a  modest  group  of 
habitations  around  an  arx  or  citadel,  whither  the  farm- 
ing population  of  the  neighborhood  could  retire  on  the 
approach  of  danger.  The  citadel,  it  must  be  admitted, 
is  largely  an  inference  based  on  the  analogy  of  other 
settlements  planted  by  this  people;  but  the  fact  of  men 
of  Etruscan  blood  having  lived  in  considerable  numbers 
on  the  Sienese  ridges  is  established  beyond  challenge 
by  the  discovery  of  numerous  burial  places,  some  within 
the  walls  of  the  present  town,  others  within  a  radius  of 
a  few  miles.*  Their  uniformly  small  scale  is  a  sug- 
gestive index  of  the  size  of  this  original  Siena.  Pro- 
fessor Rossi,  a  leading  local  antiquarian,  carefully  weigh- 
ing the  evidence,  ventures  to  formulate  a  number  of 
propositions  which  constitute  a  chain  of  reasonable 
probabilities.  He  affirms  that  an  Etruscan  town,  the 
name  of  which  in  Latin  transliteration  was  Saena,  ex- 
isted; that  it  was  small,  perhaps  dependent  on  Volterra, 
and  that  its  arx  was  located  on  the  highest  point  of  the 
present  town,  still  known,  after  hundreds  of  years,  and 


*  The  reader  wishing  to  inform  himself  on  the  details  of  these  finds  may 
turn  to  an  article  by  Pietro  Rossi  in  the  "  Conferenze,"  published  by  the 
Commissione  Senese  di  Storia  Patria  (1895). 


8  SIENA 

possibly  in  memory  of  its  ancient  dignity,  as  Castel 
Vecchio,  that  is,  the  old  citadel.  All  this  does  not  set  a 
very  definite  image  before  the  mind,  but  in  establishing 
the  certain  fact  of  the  settlement  and  making  probable 
an  arx  upon  the  height,  it  renders  a  kindly  service  to  the 
imagination  by  associating  the  present  town  with  the 
dawn  of  recorded  time,  and  by  spinning  a  thread, 
slender  but  secure,  between  the  twentieth-century 
chafferers  of  street  and  market  and  the  mysterious 
Etruscans,  who,  out  of  their  graves,  still  speak  to  us  of 
great  achievements. 

ROMAN   SIENA 

We  reach  a  more  solid  footing  when  we  pass  from 
Etruscan  to  Roman  times.  Professor  Rossi,*  who  again 
serves  as  our  chief  guide,  has  indicated  the  probable 
stages  of  a  growing  intimacy  between  our  upland  hamlet 
and  the  conquering  republic  of  Rome.  Putting  such 
conjectures  to  one  side  as  too  intangible,  let  us  fix  our 
attention  on  the  time  when  Rome  adopted  the  policy  of 
planting  colonies  throughout  Italy.  She  followed  this 
course,  as  already  mentioned,  in  consequence  of  the 
depopulation  and  ruin  wrought  in  Etruria  and  elsewhere 
by  the  terrible  civil  wars  which  preceded  the  downfall 
of  the  republic.  As  early  as  the  time  of  Sulla,  Etruria, 
and  possibly  Saena,  began  to  receive  Roman  colonists, 

*  In  the  "Conferenze"  of  1897  (Published  by  the  Commissione  Senese  di 
Storia  Patria).  It  may  seem  advisable  to  explain  briefly  why  I  take  no  ac- 
count of  the  many  legendary  tales  touching  the  origin  of  Siena.  The 
simple  fact  is  that  most  of  them  carry  the  stamp  of  a  late  invention  on  their 
face,  and  have  little  poetic  and  less  historical  value.  The  reader  desiring  to 
inform  himself  on  the  subject  may  consult  Rondoni,  "Tradizioni  popolari 
e  leggende  di  un  Comune  medioevale." 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDLEVAL  SIENA       9 

but,  however  that  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  Augustus 
is  the  real  Latin  rebuilder  of  the  ruined  Etruscan  town. 
Following  his  victory  over  Antony,  he  inaugurated, 
probably  in  the  year  30  B.C.,  the  Roman  period  of 
Sienese  history. 

Our  shadowy  settlement,  which  we  can  barely  discern 
against  the  dusk  of  time,  and  which  we  must  imagine 
smitten  with  the  blight  befalling  all  things  Etruscan, 
now  revived  as  a  Roman  colony,  bearing  the  name 
Saena  Julia.  The  evidence  on  this  point,  furnished  by 
inscriptions  as  well  as  by  the  ancient  writers,  is  entirely 
conclusive.  In  truth  the  town  begins  now  to  become, 
if  not  an  individuality  with  sharply  marked  character- 
istics, at  least  an  indisputable  historic  fact.  Pliny 
names  it  in  his  Natural  History,*  so  does  Ptolemy 
in  his  Geography,f  and  Tacitus  J  tells  an  amusing 
story  of  how  a  Roman  senator  passing  through  Siena 
aroused  the  displeasure  of  the  mob,  who,  not  content 
with  hustling  and  cuffing  him,  mortally  wounded  his 
dignity  by  drawing  about  him  in  a  circle  and  setting  up 
the  customary  lamentations  over  the  dead.  Inscrip- 
tions, too,  containing  references  to  Siena,  and  found, 
some  within  Sienese  territory,  some  as  far  away  as  re- 
mote Britain,  throw  a  faint  light  into  the  prevailing 
gloom  of  the  period. §  From  these  various  sources  we 
can  gain  a  reasonably  distinct  picture  of  the  town, 
governed,  like  the  other  colonies,  in  imitation  of  Rome, 
by  magistrates  and  senate  (curia,  on/o),  and  composed 
of  a  hierarchy  of  official  classes,  resting  on  the  broad 

*  Pliny,  III.  f  Ptolemy,  III,  i. 

t  The  incident  belongs  to  the  time  of  Vespasian  (70  A.D.).     "Historiae," 
IV,  45, 

§  On  Roman  inscriptions,  see  "Bull.  Senese,"  Vol.  II,  74  ff.;  IV, 


10  SIENA 

foundation  of  the  people  or  plebs.  Professor  Rossi, 
guided  by  a  few  remaining  indications  in  existing  wall 
or  line  of  street,  makes  the  interesting  attempt  to  draw 
the  axes  and  fix  the  gates  of  the  Roman  town;  but 
without  the  help  of  systematic  excavations,  which  for 
the  present  are  out  of  the  question,  such  archaeological 
inquiries  will  hardly  pass  out  of  the  realm  of  speculation. 
For  the  present-day  visitor  of  Siena  the  suggestion  of  a 
Roman  past  is  constantly  renewed  by  the  symbol, 
encountered  at  every  turning,  of  the  she-wolf  with  the 
twins.  Its  use  as  the  heraldic  emblem  of  the  town  has 
been  proved  for  the  thirteenth  century,*  but  may  have 
been  general  much  earlier,  and  in  any  case  shows  a 
rooted  popular  conviction  that  Siena  was  sprung  from 
the  City  of  the  Seven  Hills.  Avoiding  all  debatable 
ground  we  may  assert  that  Saena  Julia  flourished  for 
some  centuries;  that,  a  small  mirror  of  Rome,  it  boasted 
its  forum,  its  temples,  and  its  baths;f  and  that  having 
shared,  within  the  scope  of  a  decidedly  provincial  settle- 
ment, the  greatness  of  the  empire,  it  began  presently 
to  be  involved  in  its  decay. 

Before  the  decay  ended  in  the  cataclysm  of  the 
Barbarian  invasions,  which  involved  Siena  in  a  common 
ruin  with  the  rest  of  the  peninsula,  an  event  occurred  of 
immense  consequence  for  the  coming  ages:  the  Roman 
world  adopted  Christianity.  The  general  circumstances 
under  which  the  twilight  of  the  pagan  gods  set  in  and 
the  old  temples  were  deserted  for  the  new  altars  are 
well  known,  but  few  historical  data  exist  which  enable 


*  Rossi,  "  Conf erenze, "  p.  22. 

f  For  additional  notices  on  archaeological  remains,  see  "Bull.  Senese,"  Vol. 
VI.,  103  /.,  and  Bargagli-Petrucri,   "Le  Fonti  di  Siena,"  Vol.  I,  chap.  i. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA     11 

us  to  see  how  the  great  change  was  effected  in  the 
provinces,  and  none  of  an  absolutely  authoritative 
character  tell  us  how  Christ's  kingdom  was  established 
in  Siena.  Fact  failing,  we  have  legend.  In  the  Middle 
Age  the  story  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  how,  during 
the  persecution  of  the  emperor  Diocletian,  a  noble 
Roman  youth,  Ansanus  by  name,  escaping  from  the 
capital,  sought  refuge  in  Siena,  preached,  was  appre- 
hended, and,  after  working  a  few  miracles  of — it  must 
be  confessed — a  disappointingly  unoriginal  character, 
suffered  death  by  the  sword.  A  few  miles  beyond  the 
eastern  gate,  on  a  spur  over  the  river  Arbia,  and 
contiguous  to  the  famous  battle-field  of  Montaperti, 
stands,  and  has  stood  for  many  hundred  years,  a  chapel 
supposed  to  mark  the  spot  where  the  Sienese  proto- 
martyr  gave  up  his  life.  The  spur  goes  by  the  name 
of  Dofana.  It  is  not  improbable,  nay,  it  is  quite 
credible,  that  there  is  some  historic  foundation  to  the 
story  of  Ansanus,  for  the  memory  of  so  significant  an 
event  as  the  conversion  of  the  city  to  Christianity  was 
sure  to  have  lived  on;  and  even  if  the  uncontrolled 
fancy  of  the  people  is  likely  to  have  embellished  the 
occurrences  connected  with  the  coming  of  the  new  faith 
with  the  usual  exuberant  detail,  we  must  admit  that  con- 
cealed beneath  the  mass  of  irrelevancies  may  lie  a  kernel 
of  truth.  The  depth  of  popular  conviction,  the  spot 
of  martyrdom,  definitely  designated  as  early  as  the 
seventh  century,  and,  finally,  the  ancient  character  of 
the  office  of  Sant'  Ansano  read  in  the  Sienese  churches,* 
lend  his  ghostly  personality  an  almost  irrefutable  basis 

*  The  office  in  its  received  form  dates  from  the  year  1213,  and  is  published 
in  the  "Ordo  officiorum  ecclesiae  senensis,"  Bologna,  1766,  p.  273. 


12  SIENA 

of  fact.  Very  probably  Christianity  first  filtered  in  thin 
streams  into  Siena  as  into  the  rest  of  Italy  through 
the  agency  of  Greek  merchants  and  travellers,  but,  in 
the  early  fourth  century,  we  may  assert  with  some 
confidence  the  new  faith  was  through  the  preaching 
of  a  Roman,  Ansanus  by  name,  established  for  the  first 
time  on  a  popular  foundation  destined  to  broaden  and 
deepen  and  to  become  in  the  end  the  substructure  of  an 
entirely  new  civilization. 

Throughout  the  fourth  century  the  Barbarians  at  the 
boundaries  of  the  empire  had  been  showing  increasing 
signs  of  restlessness.  In  the  fifth  century  their  pressure 
on  the  border  posts  became  irresistible,  and  the  end  of 
the  struggle  was  foreshadowed  as  early  as  410  A.D., 
when  Alaric,  chief  of  the  West  Goths,  seized  and  plun- 
dered Rome.  The  story  is  told  of  how  for  years  he  had 
heard  an  aerial  voice  which  lured  him  with  the  whis- 
pered words,  Penetrabis  ad  urbem,  until,  in  spite  of  long 
inner  resistance,  he  was  forced  to  do  its  bidding.  In 
a  letter  of  St.  Jerome  we  catch  the  reverberation  which 
this  amazing  event  produced  in  the  Mediterranean 
world;  from  afar,  in  his  cell  at  Bethlehem,  where  the 
news  reached  him  and  laid  him  prostrate  with  grief, 
he  raised  the  despairing  cry,  Quid  salvum  est  si 
Roma  peril?*  Italy  now  became  the  prize  of  the  Teu- 
tonic invaders,  but  it  is  still  too  often  thoughtlessly 
repeated  that  a  hitherto  flourishing  country  was  by  this 
occupation  first  made  acquainted  with  misery.  True, 
the  conquerors  poured  over  the  Alps  in  successive 
waves;  they  brought  not  peace  but  war,  and  doubtless, 
therefore,  desolation  followed  in  their  path;  but,  before 

*  Hodgkin,  "Italy  and  Her  Invaders,"  Book  I,  Chs.  16  and  17. 


The  Abbey  Church  of  Sant'  Antimo 
Interior  view 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA     13 

it  was  possible  for  them — a  rude  and  ill-disciplined 
savage  host — to  break  into  the  garden  of  civilization,  the 
inhabitants  of  that  garden  must  have  sunk  into  all  but 
complete  decay.  The  history  of  the  later  empire  is  the 
history  of  a  prolonged  sick-bed.  Wherever  the  cover 
is  lifted  the  eye  meets  the  same  evidence  of  incurable 
disease.  A  central  government  hardened  into  a  selfish 
bureaucracy,  its  financial  agents  an  organized  band  of 
spoliators,  the  local  administration  corrupt  and  in 
dissolution,  the  army  unpaid  and  mutinous — these  are 
some  of  the  signs  which  declared  with  sound  of  brass 
that  the  empire  was  sick,  sick  beyond  recovery.  If 
the  invasions  brought  the  plundering  of  cities,  rich 
with  the  accumulated  treasure  of  the  ages;  if  they 
brought  the  harrying  of  fields  and  the  slaughter  of  their 
tillers,  they  did  no  more  than  to  effect,  in  swift,  dramatic 
form,  a  catastrophe  which,  in  the  absence  of  human 
violence,  would  have  been  wrought  just  as  completely 
by  the  slow-grinding  mills  of  time. 

The  successful  raid  in  the  year  410  of  Alaric,  king  of 
the  West  Goths,  was  the  prelude  to  similar  expeditions. 
Plunderers  came  and  went,  like  a  summer  storm  or  a 
spring  flood,  leaving  no  permanent  mark  on  the  penin- 
sula. But  with  the  Herulian  Odoacer,  and,  more 
emphatically  still,  with  Theodoric,  king  of  the  East 
Goths,  the  Barbarians  adopted  a  new  policy  of  perma- 
nent settlement.  The  East  Goths  made  themselves  at 
home  in  Italy  and  held  fast  to  its  choicest  lands  from 
their  coming  under  their  great  king  to  their  overthrow 
by  the  armies  of  Justinian,  that  is,  for  a  period  of  about 
half  a  century  (489-553).  For  a  short  interval  after 
the  fall  of  the  East  Goths,  Italy  was  again  a  part  of  the 


14  SIENA 

empire,  an  empire,  however,  no  longer  Latin,  but 
purely  Greek  and  ruled  from  Constantinople  (554-68). 
Then  came  the  invasion  of  a  new  German  folk,  the 
Lombards  (568),  and  the  piecemeal  conquest  of  the 
peninsula  from  the  stubbornly  resisting  emperor.  In 
the  end  the  Lombards  came  to  dominate  the  whole 
north  and  centre,  incorporating  these  regions  in  their 
kingdom  of  Lombardy.  As  their  destructive  rule, 
while  completing  the  wreckage  of  the  old  culture,  in- 
augurated the  Italian  Middle  Age,  we  must  give  some 
little  attention  to  it  if  we  would  understand  the  rise  of 
mediaeval  Siena. 

However,  before  taking  up  the  Lombard  conquest  in 
detail,  we  may  pause  to  raise  the  epitaph  over  Saena 
Julia.  What  was  its  history  during  the  long  period  of 
inner  decay  which  preceded  the  coming  of  the  northern 
tribes  ?  How  did  it  fare  at  the  hands  of  West  Goths, 
Vandals,  East  Goths,  Lombards  ?  No  writer  has 
deigned  to  tell  us  how  the  great  circumstance  of  Rome's 
overthrow  affected  the  provincial  town  at  the  head- 
waters of  the  Elsa  and  the  Ombrone.  The  darkness 
lying  over  these  many  centuries  of  local  history  is  im- 
penetrable. All  that  we  may  say,  judging  by  the 
consequences,  is  that  Roman  Siena  perished  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Did  it  die  of  that  moral  dry-rot 
which  ate  out  the  vitals  of  Rome  ?  Or  was  it  at  some 
quiet  dawn  surrounded  by  the  forces  of  Alaric,  Ricimer, 
or  some  other  plunderer  bound  for  Rome,  taken  before 
the  watchman  could  sound  the  alarm,  and  left  at  night- 
fall a  heap  of  smoking  ruins  ?  The  completeness  with 
which  the  Roman  colony  vanished,  leaving  hardly  a 
course  of  masonry  behind  which  can  be  definitely 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIAEVAL  SIENA     15 

identified  as  Roman,  proves  at  least  that  it  was  over- 
taken with  disaster.  By  the  time  of  the  coming  of  the 
Lombards  it  could  hardly  have  been  more  than  an 
aggregation  of  hovels,  an  inconsiderable  market-place 
for  the  ravaged  and  depopulated  uplands.  But  as 
with  these  same  Lombards  new  germs  of  life  appear 
everywhere  throughout  Italy,  so  with  them  begins  a  new 
period  of  the  history  of  Siena.  As  early  as  the  eighth 
century,  while  the  Lombard  kingdom  was  at  its  height, 
we  get  news  of  her,  news  which  tells  us  in  no  uncertain 
terms,  that  life  is  again  stirring  in  the  desolate  land,  and 
that  the  third,  the  Italian  Siena,  is  slowly  taking  shape. 

ITALIAN   OR   MEDIAEVAL    SIENA 

The  quality  about  the  risen  Siena  of  the  eighth 
century,  communicating  itself  immediately  and  with 
clearness  in  the  few  notices  of  the  time,  is,  that  the 
milieu  of  the  town  is  no  longer  Roman,  but  mediaeval 
and  Lombard.  For  this  reason  we  must,  if  we  would 
understand  the  beginnings  of  Siena's  third  and  trium- 
phant epoch — the  epoch  with  which  this  book  is  to  deal 
— possess  ourselves,  at  least  in  outline,  of  the  political 
and  administrative  history  of  the  Lombard  kingdom. 

When,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  568,  the  Lombards 
under  their  king  Alboin  crossed  the  Julian  Alps,  they 
had  no  difficulty  in  effecting  a  foothold  in  the  valley 
of  the  Po.  The  emperor  at  Constantinople  was  repre- 
sented in  his  province  of  Italy  by  an  official  called  an 
exarch,  whose  seat  was  at  Ravenna.  The  exarch  made 
little  resistance,  and  the  Italian  natives,  calling  them- 
selves, as  members  of  the  empire,  Romans,  though 


16  SIENA 

really  a  mixture  of  many  races,  reduced  under  the  long 
Latin  rule  to  a  common  type,  were  too  unmanned  and 
broken  by  the  interminable  succession  of  previous 
invasions  and  recent  pestilence  and  famine  to  render 
their  ruler  any  effective  help.  Moreover,  this  latest  mul- 
titude "which  the  populous  North  poured  from  her 
frozen  loins,"  was,  if  we  are  to  believe  contemporary 
evidence,  the  most  terrible  of  all  the  Barbarian  hosts 
which  fate  had  let  loose  upon  poor  Italy.  Their  fierce 
manners  and  savage  aspect,  unrelieved  by  any  softening 
influences  of  civilization,  struck  a  cold  fear  through  the 
hearts  of  the  effete  Romans.  Especially  did  the  deli- 
cate, clean-shaven  natives  single  out  for  notice  and 
aversion  the  savage  masses  of  hair  and  beard  adorning 
their  enemies,  characteristic  features  to  which  this 
rugged  folk  owes  its  name  of  Langobards,  that  is, 
Longbeards.  They  soon  dominated  the  north  with  the 
exception  of  Venetia,  the  Ravennese,  and  Genoa,  mari- 
time districts  which  were  not  reducible  without  a  fleet, 
and  presently  pushed  southward  over  the  Apennines 
through  Tuscany  to  Spoleto  and  Benevento.  In  the 
south,  too,  the  maritime  districts  with  their  strong  ports 
of  Bari,  Tarento,  Otranto,  and  Naples,  withstood  the 
onset  of  the  strangers,  who  had  neither  ships  nor  any 
knowledge  of  the  sea.  Likewise,  Rome,  energetically 
defended  by  its  spiritual  rulers — above  all,  by  the  great 
Pope  Gregory — maintained  its  independence. 

The  equilibrium  thus  established  between  invaders 
and  defenders  determined  the  history  of  Italy  through- 
out the  two  centuries  of  the  Lombard  dominion.  The 
fragments  of  the  empire  north  and  south,  ruled  by  the 
exarch  at  Ravenna  and  held  together  to  a  certain  extent 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA     17 

by  the  spiritual  prestige  of  the  pope,  resisted  with  all 
their  might  the  further  progress  of  the  Lombards,  who 
for  their  part,  possessed  approximately  of  two-thirds  of 
the  peninsula,  were  naturally  desirous  to  disembarrass 
themselves  entirely  of  their  struggling  enemies  and  to 
complete  their  conquest.  In  the  long  run  the  scales 
inclined  in  favor  of  the  Lombards.  Every  new  sover- 
eign continued  to  push  out  his  boundaries  by  making 
some  small  acquisition  from  the  emperor  and  his 
exarch,  until  it  became  plain  that  the  unity  of  Italy 
under  Lombard  auspices  was  inevitable.  Disconsolate 
over  the  impending  peril,  the  pope  made  appeal  after 
appeal  to  the  great  folk  of  the  Franks  across  the  Alps 
to  come  to  his  assistance.  But  we  are  anticipating. 
For  the  present  we  note  with  interest  that  Tuscany 
was  part  of  the  Lombard  kingdom  almost  from  the 
first,  having  been  occupied  as  early  as  the  year  570, 
in  the  days  of  Alboin. 

The  rule  of  the  conquerors,  especially  in  its  early 
stages,  was  of  the  most  primitive  order.  Paul,  son  of 
Warnefrid,  a  literary  Lombard  of  the  eighth  century, 
has  told  us  almost  everything  we  know  about  it.*  He 
relates  that  his  forbears,  on  their  first  coming  into  Italy, 
ruthlessly  murdered  the  great  Roman  landowners,  and 
made  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  tributary  by  exacting 
a  payment  of  one-third  of  the  produce  of  the  fields. 
They  came  for  booty  and  its  division  must  have  been 
their  main,  if  not  their  only,  concern.  Inevitably,  how- 
ever, and  almost  from  the  first  day,  the  need  would  make 
itself  felt  for  some  kind  of  government.  Without  a 
trace  of  reverence  for  the  Roman  name  the  Barbarians 

*  In  his  Historia  Langobardorum.     Paul  died  about  the  year  795. 


18  SIENA 

began  to  organize  their  administration  along  lines  which 
appealed  to  their  greed  of  possession  and  which  were  not 
too  remote  from  their  experience.  Then  it  was  that  the 
distinctive  features  of  the  Roman  administration,  in  so 
far  as  any  had  survived  the  storms  of  the  last  genera- 
tions, were  swept  into  oblivion.  The  leading  features 
of  that  system  were,  it  is  generally  agreed,  the  municipal 
senate  or  curia,  which  performed  the  service  of  a  local 
government,  and  the  Roman  law,  which  bound  all  the 
parts  of  the  wide  empire  together  under  a  common 
system  of  justice.  It  used  to  be  maintained  that  Roman 
curia  and  Roman  law  disappeared  indeed  from  sight 
in  the  Lombard  period,  but  somehow  eked  out  a  hunted 
and  subterranean  existence  until,  after  many  years, 
they  experienced  a  glorious  rebirth  in  the  Italian  com- 
munes of  the  twelfth  century.*  These  communes, 
according  to  this  view,  mark  not  only  the  happy  appear- 
ance of  political  liberty  in  the  world  after  the  intolerable 
anarchy  of  feudal  times,  but  specifically  denote  the 
rebirth  of  the  Roman  municipal  constitution,  which, 
never  destroyed,  had  merely  dropped  into  a  long  winter's 

*  I  touch  here  upon  the  famous  controversy  inaugurated  by  Savigny, 
who  in  his  "Geschichte  des  Romischen  Rechts  im  Mittelalter"  urged  that 
the  Roman  system  never  perished,  and  taken  up  by  Hegel,  who  in  his 
"Stadteverfassung  von  Italien"  expounded  the  contrary  view.  A  fair 
recapitulation  of  the  respective  arguments  will  be  found  in  Hodgkin,  "Italy 
and  Her  Invaders,"  Vol.  VI,  chap.  13.  I  should  add  that  the  question  of  the 
Roman  municipal  institutions  is  now  generally  separated  from  the  question 
of  the  Roman  law.  The  persistence  of  the  latter  in  the  church  and,  with 
limited  application,  among  the  laity,  as  personal  law,  is  no  longer  doubted. 
Further,  the  opinion  is  coming  to  prevail  that  certain  minor  administrative 
officers  of  Roman  origin,  such,  for  instance,  as  had  to  do  with  the  repair  of 
fountains,  the  maintenance  of  roads  and  bridges,  survived,  at  least  in  many 
places.  What  interest  could  the  Lombards  have  had  in  sweeping  them 
away?  They  fastened  their  grip  upon  those  elements  of  the  administration 
which  ensured  them  the  political  control  of  the  country,  such  as  justice,  taxes, 
and  the  army 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDLEVAL  SIENA     19 

sleep.  We  may  now  safely  declare  this  opinion  chimer- 
ical. The  Lombards  were  enemies;  they  were  com- 
plete masters  of  the  situation;  they  knew  no  compro- 
mise. There  is  no  evidence  that  they  suffered  any 
government  but  that  which  they  authorized,  and  which 
they  could  comprehend  and  utilize  for  their  selfish 
purposes.  But  there  is  evidence  that  the  awful  times 
were  beginning  to  work  their  own  remedy  by  means  of 
certain  voluntary  associations  not  contemplated  in  the 
official  Lombard  arrangements. 

The  growth  of  voluntary  associations,  involving  the 
gradual  recovery  by  the  down-trodden  Italians  of  self- 
government,  at  first,  of  course,  on  a  very  modest  basis, 
may  be  presented  in  the  following  general  terms.  The 
monarchy  of  Alboin  did  after  a  while,  with  the  cessation 
of  plunder,  bring  comparative  peace,  peace  brought  new 
life,  and  life  in  its  busy,  irrepressible  fashion  led  to  new 
forms  of  social  organization.  In  the  Lombard  period 
we  may  see  how  men  deprived  of  the  fruits  of  civilization, 
separated  violently  from  the  institutions  on  which  they 
had  leaned,  thrust  back  almost  into  the  state  of  nature, 
take  their  first  timid  steps  toward  social  regroup- 
ing along  entirely  simple  and  natural  lines.  In  these 
humble  measures,  assuming  the  form  of  agreements 
among  neighbors  for  adjusting  quarrels,  for  repairing 
roads  and  water  conduits,  and  for  other  matters  of  im- 
mediate interest  to  a  small  circle,  scholars  are  now 
agreed  to  seek  for  the  germs  of  the  great  free  communes, 
which  shed  their  incomparable  light  over  the  later 
Middle  Age.  An  idle  quarrel  this,  the  general  reader 
may  be  tempted  to  interpose.  As  long  as  the  cities 
achieved  their  freedom  and  used  it  for  some  noble  end, 


20  SIENA 

what  can  it  matter  if  they  owed  it  entirely  to  themselves 
or  received  it  as  a  heritage  from  imperial  Rome  ?  But 
surely  it  is  not  pedantry,  it  is  an  instinctive  sympathy 
with  youth  and  force,  which  gives  us  pleasure  in  the 
knowledge  that  the  Italian  liberty  of  the  Middle  Age 
was  not  a  successful  copy  or  revival  of  extinct  Roman 
forms,  but  a  healthy,  spontaneous,  and  original  product, 
cultivated  through  silent  or  almost  silent  centuries  from 
a  seed  sown  at  a  time  when  to  outward  seeming  the  end 
of  the  world  was  at  hand.  I  have  broached  a  great 
question  here,  though  I  am  not  able  to  follow  it  further 
at  this  point.  It  is  impossible  to  write  about  any  Italian 
commune  without  giving  attention  to  the  controversy, 
as  old  as  the  modern  science  of  history,  concerning  the 
origin  of  the  town  liberties.  I  have  indicated  broadly 
the  direction  and  implication  of  the  most  recent  studies 
in  the  field.  In  a  later  chapter,  when  the  specific 
question  of  the  liberties  of  Siena  is  before  us,  I  shall 
return  to  this  issue,  which  is  possessed,  as  a  long  line 
of  brilliant  names  testifies,  of  the  most  persistent 
fascination.  For  the  present  I  shall  take  up  the  thread 
of  the  Lombard  administration. 

The  power  of  the  Lombard  king  depended  largely 
on  his  character  and  personal  equipment.  When  he  was 
a  man  of  force  and  daring  he  made  his  will  felt  to  the 
uttermost  corners  of  his  realm;  when  he  was  weak  or  a 
child,  the  agents  who  represented  him  in  the  provinces 
became  practically  independent.  These  representatives 
were  of  two  kinds,  dukes  and  gastalds,  the  dignity  of 
duke  being  the  higher  distinction  and  conferring  a  semi- 
independent  position.  A  gastald  was  more  definitely 
the  appointee  of  the  king,  sent  out  on  the  king's  business 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA     21 

and  removable  at  the  will  of  his  master.  Duke  and 
gastald  alike  made  their  homes  in  the  cities,  not  because 
they  preferred  them  to  the  country — a  thing  unlikely  in 
view  of  the  keen  passion  of  the  German  peoples  gener- 
ally for  the  open  air — but  because  experience  would 
teach  that  the  cities  we.re  the  convenient  and  necessary 
centres  of  administration  for  a  given  district.  In 
Tuscany  gastalds  prevailed,  an  indication  that  the 
king  kept  his  hand  more  firmly  on  this  province;  and 
indeed  rebellion,  so  constant  and  distressing  a  phenome- 
non of  Lombard  history,  seems  to  have  been  relatively 
infrequent  within  the  boundaries  of  Tuscany.  In  the 
early  eighth  century  Siena  had  a  gastald  of  the  name  of 
Taipert,  during  whose  rule  we  get  our  first  lively  glimpse 
of  the  town  since  the  cloud  of  darkness  which  descended 
upon  it  in  the  later  stages  of  imperial  Rome.  No  Tuscan 
city  of  the  time  introduces  itself  to  our  attention  with  an 
incident  of  equally  bold  relief.  At  the  hand  of  authen- 
tic documents  *  we  can  recover  the  details  of  a  most 
passionate  situation. 

Following  the  terrible  decay  and  anarchy  associated 
with  the  migrations,  Siena  must  have  begun  slowly  to 
feel  the  effects  of  the  comparative  security  of  Lombard 
rule,  for  in  the  seventh  century  we  get  news  of  her  as 
the  seat  both  of  a  bishop  and  of  a  royal  gastald.  A 
bishop,  Maurus  by  name,  exercised  episcopal  authority 
in  Siena  about  650  A.D.  Perhaps  he  was  the  first  of 
the  episcopal  line,  more  likely  he  marked  the  restoration 
of  a  diocese,  which,  established  in  the  fourth  century 
in  the  first  flush  of  the  Christian  triumph,  had  in  the 

*  All  the  documents  bearing  on  the  case  will  be  found  in  Pasqui,  "Docu- 
ment! per  la  Storia  della  Citta  di  Arezzo."     Florence,  Vieusseux,  1899. 


22  SIENA 

following  period  of  confusion  suffered  shipwreck.  At 
any  rate,  the  territory  over  which  Maurus  held  spiritual 
sway  was  very  small  and  the  dioceses  of  his  neighbors 
pressed  upon  him  most  uncomfortably,  especially  to 
the  east  where  the  bishop  of  Arezzo  held  the  territory 
almost  up  to  the  city  wall.  Perplexing  as  this  was  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  dominion  of  the  gastald,  the 
bishop's  temporal  counterpart,  embraced  all  the  region 
immediately  about  the  city,  it  was  rendered  positively 
distressing  by  the  circumstance  that  the  bishop  of 
Arezzo  became  thereby  lord  of  the  tomb  where  lay  the 
bones  of  the  Sienese  apostle,  Sant'  Ansano.  Bishop 
Maurus  tried  to  extend  his  authority  eastward  on  the 
plea  that  the  diocese  ought  to  be  coextensive  with  the 
civil  district  ruled  by  the  gastald.  All  his  efforts 
remained  futile.  The  case,  involving  the  beloved  saint, 
appealed  not  only  to  the  clergy,  but  to  gastald  and 
people  as  well.  However,  the  Aretine  prelate  was  in 
possession  and  would  not  retire  in  spite  of  the  growing 
resentment  of  the  Sienese.  Then  suddenly,  as  might 
have  been  foreseen,  came  an  armed  clash.  In  the  year 
711  the  bishop  of  Arezzo,  Lupertianus,  came,  in  per- 
formance of  his  duties,  to  the  Dofana  region  where 
the  body  of  Ansano  lay.  That  was  all  the  provoca- 
tion which  the  Sienese  needed.  Did  they  suspect  that 
Lupertianus  had  come  to  carry  away  secretly  to 
Arezzo  for  permanent  safe-keeping  the  precious  relics 
of  the  saint  ?  At  any  rate  they  poured  out  of  the  town, 
led  by  the  gastald,  Taipert,  and  his  judge,  Godipert. 
Their  going  might  mean  mischief  and  the  bishop,  as  a 
man  of  peace,  wisely  stayed  at  home.  We  can  fancy  him 
restlessly  pacing  his  room,  climbing  the  tower  perhaps 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIAEVAL  SIENA     23 

to  scan  the  bare  chalk  hills  to  the  east,  whither  the  angry 
crowd  had  poured  to  assert  the  Sienese  citizenship  of 
their  saint.  Let  the  Aretine  chronicler  *  tell  the  story 
as  he  found  it  recorded  in  " vetustissimis  thomis." 

"Lupertianus,  bishop  of  Arezzo,  was  staying  with  his  servants 
in  the  church  of  S.  Maria  in  Pacina,  quietly  attending  to  those 
things  which  pertain  to  a  bishop  in  his  diocese.  At  that  time  the 
city  of  Siena  was  ruled  by  Aripert,  king  of  the  Lombards,  and  in  it 
dwelt  a  royal  judge,  Godipert  by  name.  He,  coming  with  Taipert, 
the  gastald,  to  the  church  where  Lupertianus,  bishop  of  Arezzo, 
was,  without  showing  the  bishop  the  least  respect,  began  to  hurl 
injuries  at  the  bishop's  men,  and  to  insult  them,  and  to  vex  them 
with  legal  proceedings  (per  placita  fatigare).  The  which  the 
Aretines  attending  the  bishop  supported  for  some  time,  until, 
flaming  up,  they  fell  upon  and  killed  Godipert,  the  Sienese  judge. 
Wherefore  the  whole  people  of  Siena  (universus  senensis  populus) 
became  enraged  against  Bishop  Lupertianus  and  put  him  to 
flight;  and  they  obliged  Adeodatus,  bishop  of  Siena,  who  was  the 
cousin  of  the  aforesaid  Godipert,  the  judge  whom  the  Aretines  had 
slain,  to  hold  that  parish  whether  he  would  or  no  for  one  year; 
and  there  outrageously  and  against  the  canons  of  our  church  he 
consecrated  three  altars  and  two  priests." 

The  routed  bishop  of  Arezzo  made  frantic  appeals 
for  justice  in  all  directions,  and  presently  the  pope  at 
Rome  as  well  as  the  Lombard  king  interposed  to  quell 
the  disturbance.  The  case,  as  submitted  to  judgment, 
involved,  in  addition  to  the  spot  of  Ansano's  martyrdom, 
all  the  parishes  of  the  Sienese  political  territory — eight- 
een, to  be  exact,  with  three  monasteries — which  were 

*  The  chronicler  is  Gerardus,  head  of  the  cathedral  chapter  of  Arezzo. 
He  wrote  his  narrative  about  1056  from  ancient  records,  and  his  facts, 
in  spite  of  his  being  a  partisan,  have  every  appearance  of  veracity.  See 
Pasqui,  p.  23,  note  2. 


24  SIENA 

incorporated  with  the  diocese  of  Arezzo.  The  first 
sentence  of  the  authenticity  of  which  we  may  be  sure 
was  delivered  in  the  court  of  the  major-domo  of  King 
Liutprand — the  successor  to  Aripert — in  August,  714, 
and  the  verdict  was  in  all  respects  favorable  to  the  com- 
plainant. But  neither  Bishop  Adeodatus  nor  the  Sien- 
ese  would  rest  content.  They  caused  the  case  to  be 
reopened,  a  mountain  of  evidence  was  collected,  and 
only  after  a  bench  of  neutral  bishops  had  declared 
against  the  Sienese  pretensions  and  King  Liutprand 
had  confirmed  the  finding  (October  14,  715)  did  they 
at  last  desist.  But  even  so  not  for  long.  Their  beloved 
saint,  their  pride  as  a  growing  commonwealth  were  at 
stake,  and  every  time  an  opportunity  offered  they  re- 
turned to  the  attack.  The  case  became  one  of  the 
famous  law-suits  of  mediaeval  history,  dragging  its 
interminable  convolutions  through  five  hundred  years. 
Not  till  1224  did  the  matter  come  to  a  definitive  close 
with  a  new  solemn  sentence  by  the  Roman  pontiff  in 
favor  of  Arezzo. 

Although  the  quarrel  has  some  slight  interest  on  its 
own  account,  it  merits  our  attention  chiefly  by  reason  of 
the  light  which  it  throws  on  the  reborn  city.  For  Siena 
was  reborn!  The  issue  of  the  eighteen  parishes,  in  its 
origin  nothing  but  a  technical  question  between  two 
bishops,  took  a  lively  and  even  warlike  turn,  for  the  single 
reason  that  the  town  was  aglow  with  youthful  vigor. 
Siena  wanted  her  saint,  a  characteristic  mediaeval  desire; 
but  more  than  that,  she  wanted  no  foreign  bishop  on 
her  political  territory.  Nor  did  she  handle  the  case 
with  polite  calm  through  the  official  channels  of  bishop 
and  gastald.  It  developed  into  a  clash  at  arms  for  no 


Picture  of  a  Monk  of  S.  Galgano 
From  a  Book-cover  in  the  Archivio  di  Stato 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDLEVAL  SIENA     25 

other  reason  than  that  the-  people  insisted  on  playing 
a  part  in  the  affair.  We  have  the  assurance  that  it  was 
the  "universus  populus  senensis"  which  encouraged 
Godipert  in  his  nagging  of  the  bishop's  followers,  and 
then,  when  Godipert  was  slain,  set  upon  the  Aretines 
and  their  bishop  and  drove  them  home  with  bruised 
limbs.  This  was  no  longer  the  inert  human  mass 
which  once  let  itself  be  plundered  and  slaughtered 
without  resistance  by  the  Barbarian  hordes.  Indubita- 
bly life  was  stirring  here,  not  a  thin  stream  of  official 
life,  which  is  nothing,  but  broad  currents  of  strong 
volition  filling  the  whole  people  and  giving  evidence  that 
a  new  race  was  in  the  process  of  formation.  And  what 
a  stream  of  light  the  little  riot  with  its  murdered  judge 
and  routed  bishop  throws  on  the  traditional  view,  still  / 
repeated  in  many  books,  that  the  communal  liberty  of 
the  Italian  towns  was  born  suddenly  and  without  warn- 
ing about  noo  A.D.,  and  that  its  origin  was  a  mystery 
past  finding  out!  Perhaps  historians  have  in  the  past 
confined  their  investigations  too  narrowly  to  evidences 
of  political  institutions,  forgetful  that  before  liberty  can 
express  itself  in  the  laws,  its  dominion  must  be  estab- 
lished in  the  mind  and  spirit.  Centuries  were  to  pass 
before  Siena  boasted  a  free,  popular  government  in 
full  working  order,  but  of  this  much  we  may  be  sure  as 
early  as  the  eighth  century — Siena  and  her  territory 
were  indeed  unfree,  being  governed  in  things  temporal 
by  a  royal  gastald,  and  in  things  spiritual  by  a  bishop; 
but  the  people  were  no  longer  a  multitude  of  despic- 
able Romans,  but  alive,  moved  by  ambition,  capable 
of  action,  in  short,  a  factor  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Letting  our  glance  travel  beyond  the  hills  of  Siena  we 


26  SIENA 

become  aware  presently  that  elsewhere  in  Tuscany,  in 
Lombardy  as  well,  nay,  north  and  south  in  the  peninsula, 
the  signs  were  increasing  of  a  similar  popular  resurrec- 
tion. All  Italy  was  coming  back  to  life.  Since  Alaric 
had  heard  the  voice  which  lured  him  on  to  Rome  three 
hundred  years  had  passed.  If  the  successive  hordes  of 
conquerors  who  poured  across  the  Alps  repel  us  with 
their  coarseness,  brutality,  and  greed,  viewed  as  men 
they  rise  infinitely  above  the  Roman  natives,  too  abject 
to  raise  a  finger  in  their  own  defence.  The  invaders, 
without  regular  supplies,  with  rude  weapons  and  poor 
military  discipline,  numbered  at  best  a  few  tens  of 
thousands;  the  unresisting  natives  rose  into  the  mil- 
lions. If  moral  judgments  ever  have  a  place  in  history, 
we  may  assert  that  the  unmanned,  cringing  Romans 
deserved  their  subjection  to  the  plundering  Herulians, 
Goths,  and  Lombards.  But  among  the  numerous 
Germanic  invasions,  only  the  Lombard  conquest,  as  we 
have  seen,  led  to  anything  like  a  successful  occupation 
of  the  soil.  It  was  in  the  full  elation  of  triumph  that 
the  victors  set  up  their  rule  over  the  vanquished.  They 
exploited  their  victims  with  cold  and  calculating  indiffer- 
ence, but  they  were  thrown  into  daily  association  with 
them,  and  although  they  had  and  planned  to  keep  their 
own  courts,  customs,  dress,  and  speech,  they  found 
themselves  presently  exposed  to  the  operation  of  the 
common  physical  law  that  the  greater  mass  draws  the 
smaller  into  its  orbit.  The  Lombards  had  not  been  a 
hundred  years  in  Italy  before  they  replaced  the  Arian 
Christianity,  to  which  they  had  been  converted  during 
their  wanderings  in  the  valley  of  the  Danube,  with  the 
Catholic  faith  championed  by  the  pope  and  practised 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  MEDIEVAL  SIENA     27 

by  their  neighbors;  by  slow  degrees  they  absorbed  in- 
creasing elements  of  the  Roman  manners,  dress,  and 
language.  A  superior  civilization  with  its  arts  and 
inventions,  perhaps  even  more  by  means  of  its  comforts 
and  cheap  delights,  exercises  a  subtle  and  far-reaching 
dominion  over  the  simple  minds  of  a  Barbarian  people. 
But  the  question  has  another  side,  for,  if  the  Lombards 
became  involved  in  a  gradual  process  of  Romanization, 
the  natives  themselves  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  Ger- 
manized. To  say  positively  that  the  Lombards  breathed 
into  the  exhausted  people  of  the  peninsula  the  spirit  of 
liberty  which  afterward  immortalized  itself  in  the  free 
communes,  would  be  rash,  but  we  can  hardly  doubt  that 
their  successful  use  of  force  taught  their  victims  a 
valuable  lesson  and  brought  force  once  more  into  repute 
as  the  true  foundation  of  society. 

In  the  days  of  King  Liutprand,  before  whose  throne 
the  bishops  of  Arezzo  and  Siena  brought  their  quarrel, 
the  Lombards  were  still  conscious  of  a  racial  difference 
between  themselves  and  the  natives,  but  the  assimilation 
of  conquerors  and  conquered  must  have  made  immense 
strides,  as  the  very  incident  upon  which  we  have  lingered 
proves.  The  leading  persons  in  Siena  were  of  Lombard 
blood.  We  have,  in  order  to  convince  ourselves,  only 
to  examine  the  names  of  the  officials  mentioned  in  the 
old  legal  documents — Taipert,  Godipert,  Warnefrid, 
Willerat,  and  so  forth.  The  Bishop  Adeodatus  himself 
with  his  artificial  name  of  Given-by-God  suggests  a 
Lombard  origin,  which,  as  was  not  uncommon,  he  hid 
under  a  Latin  pseudonym  intended  to  convey  an  im- 
pression of  conspicuous  Christian  zeal.  But  if  the 
governing  class  was  still  largely  Lombard,  the  old  hostil- 


28  SIENA 

ity  between  it  and  the  people  must  have  subsided,  for 
in  the  issue,  affecting,  through  the  precious  body  of 
Ansano,  the  welfare  of  the  whole  community,  rulers  and 
ruled  acted  as  one  man.  In  the  spirited  conduct  of 
that  affair  there  is  not  the  slightest  sign  of  a  division  into 
Lombards  and  Romans;  to  all  appearances  the  old 
enemies  have  fused  to  form  the  new  race  of  modern 
Italians,  which  from  the  eighth  century  rises  into  view 
with  all  those  characteristics  destined  to  bring  the 
peninsula  to  the  front  once  more  as  the  torch-bearer  of 
civilization. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FEUDAL  AGE  AND  THE  EMERGENCE  OF 
THE  FREE  COMMUNE 

THE  thick  veil,  which  hangs  over  Siena  and  is 
lifted  a  moment  by  the  documents  recounting 
the  conflict  between  the  episcopal  sees,  presently 
descends  anew.  Our  glimpse  disclosed  the  picture,  not 
only  of  a  people  active  and  even  aggressive  in  its  own 
interest,  but  of  a  cooperation  between  rulers  and  ruled, 
affording  a  clear  indication  of  the  advanced  state  of  the 
fusion  of  Lombards  and  Romans  into  the  new  Italian 
race.  This  fusion  was  conducted  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Lombard  state,  which,  although  still  of  a  rudi- 
mentary character  with  the  power  distributed  among 
dukes,  gastalds,  and  other  local  agents,  was  sufficiently 
centralized  to  enforce  a  fair  degree  of  order  throughout 
its  dominion.  If  the  Lombards  could  have  completed 
the  conquest  of  the  coast  districts,  thus  uniting  Italy 
under  their  rule,  the  peninsula  would  have  met  other 
and  happier  fortunes  than  it  did.  Italian  unity,  estab- 
lished as  early  as  the  eighth  century,  would,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  generations,  have  become  so  deeply  rooted  in 
popular  sentiment  that  the  chances  of  breaking  it  by 
assault  from  without  would  have  been  slight.  But  it 
was  decreed  that  Italy  was  not  to  enjoy  the  blessing 
which  a  strong  Lombard  state  would  have  brought,  and, 
as  every  student  knows,  the  Lombard  failure  resulted 

29 


30  SIENA 

from  the  existence  on  the  peninsula  of  a  rival  state,  the 
papacy. 

The  bishop  of  Rome,  already  at  the  time  of  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lombards  the  acknowledged  spiritual  leader 
of  the  West,  did  not  have  to  be  a  political  genius  to 
divine  the  great  and  golden  future  of  his  office,  if  only 
he  could  secure  freedom  of  movement  for  himself  and 
immunity  from  subjection  to  a  temporal  sovereign. 
This  is  why  he  became  the  centre  of  resistance  to  the 
Lombard  conquest,  and  this,  too,  explains  why,  when 
the  Lombard  kings,  following  a  natural  movement  of 
expansion,  were  at  last  on  the  point  of  possessing 
themselves  of  Rome,  he  made  a  passionate  appeal  for 
help  to  the  Franks.  He  would  have  turned  preferably 
to  the  Greek  emperor  at  Constantinople,  as  more  distant 
and  therefore  less  dangerous,  but  that  potentate's 
decline  had,  by  the  eighth  century,  reached  the  point 
where  he  could  hardly  maintain  himself  in  his  immediate 
dominions.  The  powerful  kingdom  of  the  Franks  was 
the  pope's  only  visible  resource.  Pippin,  and  after  him 
his  famous  son,  Charlemagne,  came  at  the  papal  bid- 
ding, and  by  the  year  774  the  last  Lombard  king  was  a 
prisoner  and  his  state  the  prize  of  a  Germanic  rival. 
Charles  won  a  new  crown  and  presently  mounted  the 
utmost  pinnacle  by  assuming,  on  Christmas  day  of  the 
year  800,  the  title  of  Roman  emperor. 

I  am  not  here  narrating  the  political  history  of  Italy, 
except  in  so  far  as  knowledge  of  it  is  indispensable  for 
our  understanding  of  the  development  of  Siena.  Now 
the  significant  feature  stamped  upon  Italian  history 
by  the  ruin  of  the  Lombard  state  is  the  complete  decen- 
tralization of  political  power.  How  did  this  result  come 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  31 

about  ?  The  answer  is  simple.  The  empire  of  the 
Franks,  overwhelmingly  powerful  under  Charles,  pres- 
ently went  to  pieces.  Italy  thereupon  became  the  object 
of  fierce  contention  among  its  dukes  and  princes,  and 
the  easy  victim  of  any  enterprising  foreign  sovereign 
who  could  lead  an  army  across  the  Alps.  These  simple 
facts  define  the  political  problem  of  Italy  for  the  whole 
mediaeval  period  and  for  the  modern  period  as  well 
down  to  very  recent  times.  What  is  the  significance  of 
their  long  persistence  ?  Fancy  a  state  handed  over  to 
innumerable  local  agents  who  are  perfectly  free  to 
follow  their  own  bent,  except  for  the  more  or  less 
theoretic  restraint  exercised  by  a  usually  absent  sover- 
eign. The  inevitable  consequence  will  be  that  the  local 
agents  will  drop  such  deep  roots,  that  they  will  grow 
so  strong  and  jealous  of  their  independence  that  their 
subjection  to  a  national  ruler  will  be  rendered  well- 
nigh  impossible.  Now  of  all  the  petty  sovereigns  of 
the  peninsula  there  was  none  to  compare  in  point  of 
energy,  resources,  and  venerability  with  the  pope. 
What  he  willed  could  not  be  easily  resisted,  and  what  he 
willed  with  regard  to  Italy  was,  that  she  should  not  be 
united  because  her  union  would  put  an  end  to  his 
temporal  sovereignty.  One  thousand  years  of  papal 
history  show  that  the  pontiff  was  ever  ready  to  defeat 
the  national  hopes,  and  when,  hardly  a  generation 
ago,  these  hopes  were  at  last  realized,  the  consum- 
mation was  effected  in  the  face  of  the  open  hostility 
and  secret  machinations  of  the  successor  of  Saint 
Peter.  Even  so,  now  that  the  union  is  some  forty 
years  old  and  enjoys  the  good-will  of  all  the  world, 
the  pope  alone  sulks  in  his  palace,  a  voluntary  prisoner, 


32  SIENA 

and  declares  himself  irreconcilably  opposed  to  the 
national  triumph. 

But  if  the  fall  of  the  Lombard  state  gave  life — and 
long  life,  as  it  proved  to  be — to  the  temporal  aspirations 
of  the  papacy,  it  had  another  consequence  more  im- 
mediately affecting  our  town  of  Siena,  in  that  Italy  was 
now  feudalized.  Of  course  the  feudal  germ  was 
planted  in  the  Lombard  state,  as  well  as  in  every  other 
Germanic  conquest  of  the  West,  but  the  reach  and 
vigor  of  Italian  feudalism,  a  reach  and  vigor  suggesting 
the  riotous  luxury  of  a  tropical  jungle,  would  have  been 
impossible  without  the  failure  of  the  central  and 
national  authority. 

Following  the  death  of  the  great  Charles,  the  Lom- 
bard crown — called  interchangeably  from  this  time  the 
Italian  crown — was  permanently  weakened.  Bandied 
about  for  a  time  among  the  Italian  magnates,  each  un- 
willing to  concede  it  to  the  other,  it  was  at  last  seized 
by  a  capable  and  vigorous  foreigner,  King  Otto  I  of 
Germany  (961).  Henceforth  Italy  was  an  adjunct  of 
Germany,  but  the  German  king,  bearing  the  title  also 
of  emperor  after  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation  by  the 
pope,  was  usually  so  weak  and  far  away  that  he  could 
not  keep  his  provincial  agents,  dukes,  counts,  gastalds, 
or  whatever  their  title,  from  making  themselves  more 
and  more  independent.  To  counteract  their  influence 
he  tried  to  create  a  rival  for  them  in  the  bishops,  whom 
he  made  civil  functionaries  by  the  system  called  immuni- 
ties. An  imperial  diploma  or  charter  of  immunities 
gave  the  bishop  certain  sovereign  rights,  such  as  the 
exercise  of  justice  on  the  episcopal  domains  and  the 
collection  thereon  of  the  taxes  and  services  due  to  the 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  33 

state.  In  some  cases  the  king  went  even  farther,  and 
raised  the  bishop  to  the  post  of  duke  or  count;  that  is, 
he  made  him  his  civil  representative  throughout  a 
province.  The  less  real  the  royal  power  was  the  more 
readily  the  sovereign  purchased  a  temporary  support 
by  the  gratuitous  distribution  of  privileges.  The  result 
was  only  too  inevitable.  With  the  king  impotent  and 
generally  beyond  the  Alps,  Italian  history  became  a 
wild  scramble  for  place  and  power  among  lords,  big 
and  little,  lay  and  spiritual. 

For  this  scramble,  characteristic  of  every  society 
loosely  joined  and  uncontrolled  from  above,  feudalism 
is  the  fine  and  somewhat  misleading  name.  For 
feudalism  in  its  essence  was  anarchy.  Theoretically 
the  national  cohesion  was  maintained  by  a  system  of 
services  due  to  the  king  from  his  dukes  and  counts,  and 
to  them  in  their  turn  from  their  knights;  but  as  these 
services  were  rendered  only  on  compulsion,  and  the 
compulsion,  in  Italy  at  least,  was  irregular,  the  practical 
effect  of  feudalism  was  the  breaking  up  of  the  country 
into  hundreds  of  larger  or  smaller  lordships,  engaged  in 
unscrupulous  rivalry  and  exercising  each  one  an  actual 
power,  the  measure  of  which  was  furnished  by  the 
success  and  failure  of  each  new  combination  of  forces. 
To  this  substance  of  Italian  history  in  the  feudal  cen- 
turies no  one  should  be  blinded  by  the  superficial 
prominence  of  pope  and  emperor.  These  sovereigns, 
as  international  potentates,  occupied  an  exalted  position; 
they  had  constantly  to  be  reckoned  with,  especially 
when  they  brought  to  bear  upon  their  office  a  clear  in- 
telligence and  an  enterprising  temper;  but  they  were 
so  far  from  controlling  the  situation  that  the  only 


34  SIENA 

practical  course  open  to  them  for  political  purposes  was 
to  ally  themselves  with  one  or  another  of  the  many 
local  factions.  In  the  Middle  Age  the  pope,  and  more 
conspicuously  still,  the  emperor,  was  a  partisan.  Of 
course  occasional  great  emperors,  like  Henry  III,  or 
Frederick  I,  rose  above  purely  factional  considerations; 
but  in  general  the  imperial  position  was  weak,  false, 
and  precarious.  The  continued  feebleness  of  the  nomi- 
nal head  of  the  peninsula  bears  out  the  assertion  that  a 
strong  state  and  a  feudal  state  are  irreconcilable  terms, 
and  that  feudalism  itself  was  an  extreme  form  of  decen- 
tralization. 

Under  these  conditions  with  every  lord  frowning 
challenge  on  his  fellow  from  his  stronghold  among  the 
hills,  with  the  whole  country  a  seething  caldron  of 
confusion,  the  only  chance  for  the  cities  was  to  help 
themselves.  Their  existence  was  founded  on  labor. 
But  in  the  permanent  state  of  petty  war  confirmed  by 
feudalism,  of  what  good  to  any  one  was  labor,  with  its 
fruits  exposed  to  instant  confiscation  by  a  crew  of  law- 
less freebooters  ?  The  cities  could  help  themselves  only 
by  withdrawing  from  the  vicious  circle  of  feudalism,  and 
enforcing,  by  virtue  of  an  independent  civic  organiza- 
tion, peace,  the  peace  wherein  all  men  may  work.  I 
have  said  that  in  the  feudal  age  the  substance  of  Italian 
history  was  the  scramble  for  power  among  the  great  and 
small  vassals  of  an  impotent,  or  almost  impotent,  emperor; 
but,  as  the  period  advanced,  the  situation  was  modified 
in  the  most  significant  fashion  by  the  gradual  emergence 
of  the  cities  with  their  independent  aims  and  programmes. 
Here,  in  fact,  lies  the  vital  interest  in  the  Middle  Age. 
At  the  first  glance  the  situation  only  complicated  itself 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  35 

when  the  cities  asked  for  an  independent  position  in 
the  Italian  polity.  The  struggle  was  already  going  on 
in  several  planes:  pope  and  emperor  towered  above  the 
counts,  bishops,  and  other  great  vassals,  who  in  turn 
dominated  a  class  of  smaller  landholders,  and  now, 
aspiring  to  be  treated  as  a  separate  political  element,the 
cities  raised  their  heads.  Among  these  cities  was 
Siena.  Every  step  taken  by  her  citizens  toward  a  posi- 
tion of  ultimate  independence  would  involve  considera- 
tion :  first,  of  emperor  and  pope,  temporal  and  spiritual 
overlords  respectively  of  this  and  every  other  Tuscan 
town;  second,  of  the  feudal  lords,  great  and  small, 
possessed  of  the  countryside  up  to  the  very  walls, 
engaging  in  guerilla  war  as  in  a  sport,  and  levying  way- 
tolls  at  every  ford  and  under  the  shadow  of  every 
frowning  castle.  These  general  factors  must  be  con- 
stantly borne  in  mind  as  we  follow  the  history  of  Siena 
in  the  feudal  age. 

The  documentary  evidence  concerning  Siena  during 
the  period  following  the  fall  of  the  Lombard  state  is 
slight.  The  feudal  darkness  descended  upon  the  land, 
and  the  few  records  of  the  time,  which  have  reached  us, 
speak  chiefly  of  the  doings  of  the  great.  We  hear  of 
lords  and  princes  who  harry  one  another's  possessions, 
of  prelates  who  meet  in  solemn  conclave  to  consider 
the  welfare  of  the  church,  of  kings  who  pass  with  hosts 
and  banners  down  the  peninsula  to  be  crowned  at 
Rome;  laboriously  we  piece  together  the  starched, 
official  tale  of  a  society,  composed  apparently  merely  of 
an  upper  class,  resting  on  an  undistinguished  and 
negligible  mass  of  common  people.  As  to  the  life  in 
Siena  and  in  the  other  Tuscan  towns,  we  are  left  largely 


36  SIENA 

to  our  fancy,  aided  by  occasional  indications,  usually  of 
a  chance  character.  Nevertheless,  on  close  scrutiny, 
the  early  political  fortunes  of  these  towns  become,  in  a 
general  way,  discernible.  To  begin  with  it  is  clear  that 
they  possess  no  very  definite  individuality,  correspond  in 
the  main  to  a  single  type,  and  experience  a  common 
development.  Florence  and  Siena,  Pisa  and  Lucca, 
so  different  afterward  in  their  lusty  manhood,  are 
alike,  if  not  as  pea  and  pea,  at  least  as  children  at 
a  christening.  For  the  historian  a  considerable  ad- 
vantage of  these  early  resemblances  is  that  any  bit  of 
information  gleaned  for  one  town  may  be  used,  with 
due  reserve,  to  throw  light  upon  the  condition  of  every 
other. 

We  know  that  in  the  Carolingian  epoch  the  gastald  of 
Siena,  representative  of  the  Lombard  king,  was  replaced 
by  a  Frankish  count.  That  was  merely  a  change  of 
title;  the  count  continued  to  preside  in  court,  maintain 
order,  collect  the  royal  fees  and  rents,  to  play,  in  a  word, 
the  part  of  local  government.  The  territory  of  his 
jurisdiction  was  called  the  comitatus  (contado,  county) 
and  comprised  the  city  of  his  residence  and  its  neighbor- 
hood. The  comitatus  originally  may  have  been  clearly 
staked  off,  but  with  the  growing  confusion  of  the  times, 
the  boundary  became  uncertain  and  caused  grave  dis- 
putes with  the  representatives  of  th£  neighboring 
counties.  A  similar  uncertainty  prevailed  occasionally 
with  regard  to  the  exact  extent  of  the  dioceses.  Comita- 
tus and  episcopatus — the  dominions  respectively  of 
the  civil  and  the  spiritual  lord — commonly  corresponded 
throughout  the  kingdom  of  Italy;  but,  it  would  not  have 
been  the  feudal  age,  if  there  had  been  no  exceptions  to 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  37 

the  rule.  Siena,  for  instance,  it  may  be  remembered, 
learned  to  her  sorrow  that  certain  parishes,  lying  within 
her  comitatus,  were  none  the  less  outside  the  diocese  of 
her  bishop.  Yet  here,  also,  the  two  administrative 
units  of  state  and  church  coincided  in  a  general  way. 
As  the  Sienese  county  is  an  object  of  great  interest  to 
us,  we  shall  be  doing  well  to  familiarize  ourselves  with 
its  boundaries. 

In  approximate  terms  the  county  of  Siena  was 
bounded  on  the  west  by  the  headwaters  of  the  Elsa,  on 
the  east  by  the  swamp  of  the  Chiana,  and  on  the  south 
by  the  courses  of  the  Orcia  and  the  Merse.  The 
Chianti  hills,  the  sunny  terraces  of  which  have  for 
centuries  grown  the  rarest  wine  of  Italy,  and  which 
draw  a  close  arc  around  the  city  to  the  north,  were,  to 
the  sorrow  of  Siena,  embraced  within  the  comitatus  of 
Florence.  Orcia  and  Merse  themselves,  forcing  a 
difficult  path  through  a  region  of  savage  cliff  and 
forest  before  they  empty  their  waters  into  the  Om- 
brone,  were,  strictly  speaking,  beyond  the  Sienese 
pale.  A  small  territory,  this,  and  from  the  economic 
point  of  view  an  average  territory  without  conspic- 
uous resources,  but  capable,  perhaps,  in  the  hands 
of  energetic  men,  of  calling  the  world's  attention  to 
itself. 

As  the  count  in  this  primitive  society  was  not  only 
the  leader  of  the  armed  host,  but  also  the  civil  and 
criminal  judge,  we  hear  of  him  most  frequently  in  con- 
nection with  sentences  delivered  in  his  court.  In  the 
work  of  justice  he  was  regularly  assisted  by  a  number 
of  freemen,  chosen  by  the  people  on  account  of  their 
knowledge  of  the  law  and  called  scabini.  As  the  Franks 

77108 


38  SIENA 

established  in  Italy  their  system  of  personal  law,  by 
which  every  man  according  to  his  nationality  had  the 
right  to  be  tried  by  the  Lombard,  Frank,  or  Roman 
code,  the  scabini  acquired  at  least  a  superficial  acquaint- 
ance with  all  these  systems.  In  measure  as  society 
became  less  barbarous,  and  the  legal  threads  binding 
man  to  man  grew  more  numerous,  only  men  with  special 
training  could  serve  as  scabini.  Naturally,  therefore, 
the  time  came  when  the  scabini  were  transformed  into  a 
professional  class  of  notaries  and  judges.  This  forma- 
tive group,  the  lawyer  element,  we  may  note  in  passing, 
had  afterward — long  after  the  Frank  period  with  which 
we  are  just  now  concerned — an  important  share  in 
organizing  the  free  commune,  for  it  was  this  class  that 
was  entrusted  with  the  work  of  giving  the  constitutions 
of  the  communes  a  legal  shape.  By  throwing  their 
influence  on  that  occasion  on  the  side  of  the  Roman  law, 
which  could  not  but  appeal  powerfully  to  professional 
men  by  reason  of  its  evidences  of  system  and  culture, 
the  trained  lawyers  effected  the  withdrawal  of  the  ruder 
Germanic  practices  and  penalties  in  favor  of  a  new 
local  code,  which  every  town  worked  out  for  itself 
on  general  Roman  principles.  A  little  reflection  will 
show  that  this  revival  of  a  defunct  system  and  its 
complete  triumph  were  inevitable  in  a  country  satu- 
rated, like  Italy,  with  Roman  memories,  but  we 
should  not  fail  to  note  that  it  offers  no  proof  of 
the  uninterrupted  domination  of  the  whole  Roman 
administrative  system. 

But  I  have  anticipated,  led  on  by  the  interest  attach- 
ing to  the  evolution  of  the  system  of  justice  in  the 
Italian  towns.  I  desire  now  to  return  to  the  history  of 


Livorno 


Viterbo 


I.-N.   WWC,  »UFF«10, 


SIENA  uiiil  the  Uccion  Between  the  A  K  NO.  the  APENNINES  nnil  MONTE  \MI\T\ 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  39 

the  count's  territory,  the  comitatus.  If,  in  the  days  of 
Charlemagne,  the  comitatus  was  the  fundamental  ad- 
ministrative unit  of  the  empire,  effectively  governed  by 
the  count,  the  ninth  century  had  not  yet  declined  to  its 
setting,  when  we  find  the  comitatus  threatened  with 
disaster.  The  confusion  and  paralysis  which  descended 
on  the  head  of  the  state  naturally  spread  to  all  the 
members.  I  have  already  spoken  of  this  confusion 
under  the  name  of  the  feudalization  of  society.  Having 
glanced  at  the  fate  of  the  sovereign  under  the  centrifugal 
tendencies  of  feudalism,  we  have  now  an  opportunity 
to  observe  what  havoc  this  movement  worked  with  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  kingdom,  the  counties.  As 
the  ninth  century  passed  into  the  tenth,  certainly  one  of 
the  most  desolate  of  all  the  desolate  stretches  of  the 
journey  of  our  race  since  the  time  of  Christ,  the  symp- 
toms multiplied  which  indicated  that  the  comitatus 
would  become  the  prey  of  selfish  interests.  This 
fact  becomes  intelligible  only,  if  we  keep  before  our 
mind  the  picture  of  the  feudal  king,  weak,  beset  with 
enemies,  often  absent,  as  often  squandering  his  spurt 
of  energy  upon  a  rival,  the  puppet  of  a  faction,  and 
perforce  ill-informed  about  the  affairs  of  the  counties 
and  incapable  of  attending  to  them.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances the  count  could  forget  his  public  mission 
and  think  chiefly  of  making  as  excellent  provision  as 
possible  for  himself  and  his  family.  What  was  to 
hinder  his  seizing  suitable  portions  of  the  public 
domain  in  the  sure  expectation  that  the  hour  would 
come,  the  hour  of  need,  when  his  sovereign  would 
pay  for  a  momentary  support  by  legalizing  the  usurp- 
ation ? 


40  SIENA 

We  gather  dimly — the  records  are  few  and  indefinite 
— that  it  was  in  some  such  way  as  this  that  the  Sienese 
territory  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  number  of  great 
feudal  families.  In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries 
we  find  them  encircling  the  town  like  a  besieging  host. 
Not  only  do  they  profess,  in  sign  of  their  origin,  the 
Lombard,  or  more  frequently  still,  the  Frank  law,  but 
they  bear  the  title  of  counts.  In  this  connection  we 
should  remember  that  in  the  early  Middle  Age  the 
title  count  was  never  a  merely  honorary  distinction,  but 
always  designated  an  official  engaged  on  the  king's 
business.  But  if  the  successive  families  of  counts  came 
to  Siena  to  govern  in  the  name  of  the  king,  they  stayed 
to  enjoy  the  domains  to  which,  by  some  means  or  other, 
they  managed  to  secure  the  enfeoffment.  Only  in  this 
way  can  we  account  for  the  great  family  of  the  Soarzi 
to  the  west  of  the  city  on  the  slopes  of  Monte  Maggio 
and  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Elsa,  and  for  the  still 
greater  family  of  the  Scialenghi  or  Cacciaconti  to  the 
east,  settled  in  many  branches  through  the  region  of  the 
eighteen  baptisteries  disputed  between  Arezzo  and 
Siena.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  Cacciaconti  we 
find  also  the  Forteguerri  and  the  Manenti,  the  latter 
descendants,  it  would  seem,  of  counts  of  Orvieto,  while 
directly  south  of  the  city,  almost  touching  the  walls, 
the  Ardengheschi  had  their  castles  and  estates.  Com- 
pleting the  circuit  of  the  town  we  discover  among  the 
inhospitable  hills  to  the  south  and  west,  beyond  what 
was  strictly  Sienese  territory,  the  clans  of  the  Aldo- 
brandeschi  and  the  Pannochieschi,  claiming  authority 
over  vast  solitudes  of  wood  and  marsh.  If  the  measures 
by  which  these  families  secured  their  great  fiefs  from  the 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  41 

empire  are  not  entirely  clear,  we  are  at  least  sure  that 
they  prospered  at  the  expense  of  the  public  lands  and 
of  the  comitatus.  To  all  intents  they  had  succeeded  in 
cutting  their  holdings  out  of  the  Sienese  and  the  neigh- 
boring counties,  in  order  to  rule  them  as  sovereign  under 
the  emperor  on  the  basis  of  a  charter  of  privileges  and 
immunities. 

If  we  have  here  one  of  the  chief  factors  which  dimin- 
ished the  imperial  prerogatives  and  disintegrated  the 
imperial  administration  of  Tuscany,  we  face  another 
when  we  follow  the  development  of  the  church.  Bishops 
and  monasteries  vied  with  the  lay  lords  in  importunate 
demands  upon  the  emperor  for  special  favors  and  im- 
munities. By  means  of  gifts  distributed  in  those  pious 
days  with  liberal  hand,  the  church  was  waxing  constantly 
richer,  but,  left  unprotected  by  the  disorganized  civil 
government,  it  had  to  suffer  its  treasures  to  be  seized 
and  its  territories  to  be  invaded  by  a  lawless  baronage. 
Under  the  circumstances  the  bishops  and  abbots,  the 
natural  guardians  of  the  possessions  of  the  church, 
were  forced  to  provide  for  their  own  defense,  and  not 
unnaturally  appealed  to  the  emperor  to  improve  their 
position  by  the  grant  of  a  charter  which  conferred  on 
them  the  highest  temporal  authority  in  their  dominions. 
Dovetailed,  therefore,  among  the  great  nobles  of  the 
countryside,  we  find  the  great  prelates,  hardly  less 
numerous  and  powerful  than  their  lay  rivals.  South  of 
Siena,  toward  Monte  Amiata,  lay  the  monastery  of 
Sant'  Antimo;  as  early  as  the  year  952  its  abbot  was 
endowed  with  the  temporalities,*  and,  in  the  words  of 
Dante,  joined  the  sword  to  the  shepherd's  crook.  As 

*" Bull.  Sen."  IV,  72-74. 


42  SIENA 

for  the  great  Benedictine  abbey  on  the  slopes  of  Monte 
Amiata,  San  Salvatore,  which  fills  a  large  page  in  the 
history  of  Siena,  each  new  emperor  tried  to  outdo  his 
predecessor  in  magnanimous  concessions  to  it.*  What 
a  lord  abbot  successfully  demanded  could  not  be 
reasonably  denied  to  a  lord  bishop.  The  Aretine 
prelate,  for  example,  neighbor  and  rival  of  him  of 
Siena,  acquired  an  extensive  immunity  as  early  as  the 
year  843,f  and  similar  concessions  can  be  proved 
for  other  dioceses  of  the  neighborhood.  When  we 
turn  to  Siena  we  discover  that  the  episcopal  archives  | 
have  been  neglected  by  the  chapter  and  dissipated 
by  time,  and  that  the  earliest  imperial  diploma  which 
has  been  preserved  bears  the  date  1055,  but  the  con- 
cessions which  fairly  rained  upon  all  the  bishops  of 
the  immediate  neighborhood,  generations  and  cent- 
uries before  1055,  make  it  more  than  probable  that 
the  bishop  of  Siena,  too,  began  at  a  very  early  time 
to  acquire  a  political  foothold  in  his  dominions  by 
means  of  special  privileges  from  the  sovereign.  In 
fact,  the  very  phrasing  of  the  document  of  1055  makes 
it  probable  that  it  is  largely  a  recapitulation  of  previous 
grants. 

This  important  diploma  was  issued  from  the  chancel- 
lery of  the  Emperor  Henry  III  and,  if  relatively  late, 
contains  at  least  an  enumeration  of  ample  concessions 
to  the  beneficiary.  It  is  worth  reproducing  in  part,  in 
order  to  enable  us  to  see  at  first  hand  how  the  bishop 

*  The  original  documents  are  preserved  in  the  Archivio  di  Stato  of  Siena 
in  the  section  called  Diplomatico.  For  a  brief  description  of  them,  see 
Lisini's  Inventario,  "Bull.  Sen."  XIII,  23O/.  and  487^. 

f  Pasqui,  "Document!  per  la  Storia  della  Cittii  di  Arezzo,"  No.  33. 

j  On  the  archives  see  Lusini,  "Bull.  Sen."  II,  145. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  43 

became  a  temporal  lord,  on  a  level  with  the  proudest 
members  of  the  king's  baronage. 

"In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  Indivisible  Trinity,  We,  Henry, 
by  the  favor  of  God  Roman  Emperor  .  .  .  concede,  give,  and 
confirm  to  the  Sienese  church  all  the  possessions  which  it  has 
legally  acquired  or  shall  acquire  in  the  future,  that  is,  Castettum 
Veins  and  these  lands  and  manors  (a  long  list  follows,  some  of 
which  can  be  still  identified  to  the  south  of  the  town).  All  these 
lands  with  their  appurtenances  we  concede,  granting  to  the  bishop 
judicial  authority  over  the  possessions  of  the  church  and  the  resi- 
dents thereon,  and  the  right  to  conduct  a  wager  of  battle  after  the 
established  forms.  Further,  we  desire  and  command  that  the 
bishop  shall  have  a  right  to  the  public  services  resting  upon  the 
afore-named  possessions  of  his  church  (facere  munitiones)  without 
interference  from  any  archbishop,  bishop,  duke,  margi  ave,  count, 
viscount,  or  any  other  person  of  our  realm.  ...  In  witness  where- 
of, etc."  * 

It  is  plain  that  this  document  makes  the  bishop  a 
temporal  ruler.  However,  the  question  immediately 
arises,  what  is  the  exact  meaning  of  the  concession 
specified  as  Castellum  Vetus  ?  Under  that  name  was 
known  the  highest  hill  of  the  city,  site  of  the  original 
Etruscan  settlement.  Some  writers  have  maintained 
that  the  part  is  here  put  for  the  whole,  and  that  the 
grant  to  the  bishop  of  Castellum  Vetus  was  tantamount 
to  declaring  him  ruler  of  all  Siena.  To  the  unbiased 
reader  that  must  look  like  a  very  improbable  interpreta- 
tion. As  we  know  of  the  bishop  that  he  originally 
resided  on  the  hill  of  Castellum  Vetus,  we  may  assume 
that  he  had  landed  possessions  there;  and  it  is  at  least 
entirely  reasonable  to  maintain  that  the  privilege  of 

*  Pecci,  "Storia  del  Vescovado  di  Siena,"  p.  120. 


44  SIENA 

Henry  III  sought  primarily  to  endow  him  with  po- 
litical rights  within  and  immediately  about  his  private 
property.  In  any  case  that  is  all  the  document  actu- 
ally says.  If  the  exact  area  embraced  by  so  loose  a 
term  as  Castellum  Vetus  is  not  entirely  clear,  there 
remains  no  doubt  that  the  bishop  received,  in  addition, 
sovereign  rights  over  lands  constituting  a  consider- 
able territory  to  the  south  of  the  city  between  the 
Arbia  and  the  Merse.  Over  all  this  region  he  is  de- 
clared to  be  temporal  lord  with  the  power  to  collect 
dues  and  to  pronounce  judgment,  and  he  is  even  au- 
thorized to  conduct  a  wager  of  battle,  always  a  sign 
in  those  times  of  high  criminal  and  civil  jurisdiction. 
True,  neither  this  nor  any  other  privilege  ever  gave 
the  bishop  the  title  and  authority  of  a  count  of  the 
empire,  although  an  assertion  to  this  effect  has  often 
been  made,*  but  it  did  eliminate  the  imperial  count 
from  a  considerable  section  of  the  county  of  Siena, 
and  this  fact,  taken  in  connection  with  his  elimina- 
tion from  the  estates  of  the  larger  monasteries,  and 
from  the  compact  possessions  of  the  Soarzi,  Cacciaconti, 
and  other  lay  lords,  gives  us  a  vivid  indication  of  the 
sorry  decline  of  the  once  powerful  local  administrator 
and  of  the  imperial  prerogatives  which  he  represented. 
As  late  as  the  twelfth  century,  in  the  time  of  the 
Hohenstaufen,  we  hear  of  counts  of  Siena,  whom  the 
Emperor  Barbarossa,  or  his  son  Henry,  sent  to  this  re- 
gion to  stand  guard  over  the  remnant  of  the  imperial 
authority,  but,  hardly  finding  breathing-space  among 
the  powers  whose  usurpations  overspread  the  land,  he 

*  For  instance,  Rondoni,  "Sena  Vetus,"  p.  8.     No  existing  document 
designates  the  Sienese  bishop  as  count  of  the  territory. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  45 

lived  a  pale,  unnoticed  existence  and  presently  faded 
away.* 

Among  these  general  conditions  were  cast  the  first  steps 
of  the  free  commune  of  Siena.  That  they  were  timid  and 
uncertain  needs  no  explanation  when  we  remember  that 
we  are  dealing  with  the  period  of  infancy.  I  have  already 
said  that  it  is  absurd  to  seek  for  the  exact  birthyear  of 
the  commune,  or  to  maintain  categorica41y  that  it  was 
born  on  such  and  such  an  occasion,  as,  for  example, 
when  the  magistracy  of  the  consuls  assumed  the  political 
direction  of  the  city.  The  consuls,  to  be  sure,  are  the 
declaration  urbi  et  orbt  that  the  town  will  henceforth 
look  to  itself  and  manage  its  own  affairs,  but  long  before 
there  were  consuls — centuries  before,  in  fact — the 
citizens  had  begun  to  provide  for  their  most  pressing 
interests  by  their  own  efforts.  The  history  of  the  free 
commune  is  really  the  history  of  burgher  self-help  in  the 
midst  of  the  distressing  conditions  of  the  feudal  age. 
When  to  make  a  journey  over  land,  or  rather  when  to 
step  over  your  threshold  was  to  take  your  life  into  your 
hands,  it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  men  had 
not  learned  that  the  individual,  if  he  would  survive, 
must  multiply  himself,  as  it  were,  by  free  association 
with  others  in  the  same  precarious  position.  These 
first  beginnings  of  communal  freedom  in  voluntary 
groups,  formed  for  the  most  primitive  social  ends,  long 
escaped  the  attention  of  historians.  The  pomp  of 
kings,  the  clash  of  mailed  warriors,  the  anathemas  of 

*  As  to  the  evidence  concerning  the  existence  of  Sienese  counts  as  late  as 
the  twelfth  century,  see  Muratori,  "  Antiquitates  Italicae,"  IV,  577.  A 
list  of  ten  counts,  from  approximately  1145  to  1200,  shows  that  although  the 
comitatus  had  been  distributed  among  private  interests,  a  remnant  of  the 
imperial  administration  stubbornly  persisted. 


46  SIENA 

popes,  created  a  rich  and  many-colored  panorama, 
through  our  delight  in  which  we  forgot  the  lowly  masses 
with  their  unromantic  doings  in  field  and  shop.  But 
within  a  generation  all  this  has  changed  and  the  earnest 
effort  of  many  scholars  to  lift  the  veil  from  the  lives  of 
those  who  were  not  knights  and  ladies,  and  rode  to  hunt, 
and  banqueted  in  halls,  has  led  us  to  revise,  in  good 
part,  our  whole  view  of  the  Middle  Age.  Unfortunately 
our  first-hand  information  of  the  submerged  masses  is 
fragmentary  and  deficient.  The  chroniclers  of  the 
time,  monks,  for  the  most  part,  of  small  outlook  and 
encased  in  class  prejudice,  had  no  eyes  for  what  went  on 
among  the  common  people;  and  the  manor  and  parish 
records,  which  might  tell  us  much  of  the  administrative 
activities  of  the  inhabitants,  have  reached  us  only  in 
occasional  survivals.  In  the  case  of  Siena,  in  particular, 
the  remains  are  very  scanty.  However,  the  history  of 
early  voluntary  associations  has  been  carefully  pieced 
together  for  more  favored  regions,  and,  as  it  is  becoming 
constantly  more  apparent  that  a  primitive  sort  of  self- 
help  was  a  feature  common  to  all  Italy,  we  are  justified 
in  predicating  an  analogous  development  for  Siena.* 


*  The  most  effective,  if  not  the  original,  impetus  to  the  investigation  of 
voluntary  associations  was  given  by  Davidsohn  in  an  article  entitled,  "Entste- 
hung  des  Konsulats"  ("  Zeitschrift  fuer  Geschichtswissenschaft,"  Band  VI, 
1891,  p.  22  ff).  An  Italian  translation,  "Origine  del  Consolato,"  will  be 
found  in  the  "Archivio  Stor.  It.,"  Serie  V,  tomo  9,  1892.  To  these  early 
investigations  Davidsohn  has  made  considerable  additions  by  an  article  in 
the  "Historische  Vierteljahresschrift,"  1900,  pp.  1-26,  and  by  a  remarkable 
chapter  (the  eighth)  in  his  "  Geschichte  von  Florenz."  His  thesis  is,  that  in 
measure  as  these  voluntary  associations  familiarized  the  people  once  more 
with  self-government,  they  expanded  by  a  perfectly  natural  process  into  the 
consulate  and  the  free  commune.  Within  the  last  generation  scholars  have 
made  special  studies  of  a  great  number  of  towns  and  villages,  and  in  every 
case  their  results  have  confirmed  Davidsohn's  views.  It  is  out  of  the  question 
to  enumerate  all  these  studies  here.  Suffice  it  to  name  two,  separated  geo- 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  47 

In  order  to  bring  out  with  all  the  clearness  possible 
the  origin  of  the  self-governing  movement,  let  us  take 
our  start  from  the  conditions  prevailing  in  the  Lombard 
and  Frank  periods,  when  the  gastald,  and  after  him  the 
count,  was  tht  "governor  of  the  city  and  its  territory. 
Even  in  this  early  period,  when  the  royal  official  was 
more  or  less  absolute  in  his  district,  he  neither  did  nor 
could  attend  to  all  the  affairs  of  the  dwellers  of  town  and 
country.  The  church,  for  one  thing,  charged  itself 
with  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  population.  Possessed 
of  a  strength  and  vigor  which  enabled  it  to  withstand 
the  assaults  of  the  migrations  and  .mock  at  the  floods 
which  rose  and  swirled  about  its  foundations,  it  had 
come  to  enjoy  a  respect  which  raised  it  in  common  eyes 
far  above  the  state.  Secular  administrations  came  and 
went,  but  the  ecclesiastical  administration,  with  its  unit, 
the  parish,  braved  every  storm.  While  insisting  on  the 
special  importance  of  the  parish,  we  should  note  that  the 
organization  of  the  church  in  Italy  has  some  additional 
features,  with  which  it  is  necessary  to  become  familiar. 
In  the  countryside  a  number  of  parishes  together  consti- 
tuted a  larger  administrative  division,  the  plebs  or  pieve, 
of  which  the  distinguishing  feature  was  the  baptistery 
with  its  font  of  holy  water,  where  the  whole  population, 
subject  to  the  plebs,  partook  of  the  first  Christian  rite. 
In  the  town  all  the  inhabitants  enclosed  within  the  walls 
were  regarded  as  constituting  a  single  plebs  and  were 
attached  to  a  single  baptismal  font.  Travelers  in  Italy 

graphically  by  almost  the  whole  length  of  the  peninsula.  Lothar  von  Heine- 
mann,  "Zur  Entstehung  der  Stadtverfassung  in  Italien,"  1896,  has  examined 
the  self-governing  activities  of  the  people  of  Gaeta  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
and  Sella  in  the  "Arch.  St.  It.,"  Serie  V,  tomo  36,  1905,  has  done  the  same 
for  certain  districts  of  Piedmont. 


48  SIENA 

will  remember  that  in  Florence,  Pisa,  Siena,  and  else- 
where, the  baptistery  stands  to  this  day  as  a  separate 
building  in  the  heart  of  the  town,  and  very  likely  it  has 
happened  that  even  as  they  gazed  at  these  wonderful 
structures,  thrilling  with  their  beauty  and  antiquity,  new- 
born babes  were  brought  in  by  nurses  and  god-parents 
to  be  received  into  the  Christian  fold.  //  ra/'o  bel  San 
Giovanni  raised  something  like  a  sob  in  the  bosom  of 
the  exiled  Dante,  and  surely  no  one  can  stand  beneath 
its  brave  cupola  without  seeing  with  his  mind's  eye  an 
interminable  procession  of  Florentine  childhood,  reach- 
ing back  and  growing  fainter,  until  it  loses  itself  in  the 
dim  days  of  the  Lombards.  A  walled  city,  then,  such 
as  Florence  or  Siena,  constituted,  ecclesiastically  speak- 
ing, a  plebs,  which,  to  meet  the  necessities  of  worship, 
was  divided  into  parishes,  called  populi.  This  swift 
scrutiny  of  the  organization  of  the  Italian  church  has, 
I  hope,  made  clear  that  its  main  administrative  divisions 
were  diocese,  plebs  (pieve,  baptistery)  and  parish.* 

Now  these  divisions,  familiar  to  peasant  and  cobbler, 
and  rooted  in  the  affections  through  daily  association, 
imposed  themselves,  to  a  certain  extent,  on  the  secular 
administration.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  the  plebs 
became  an  administrative  and  judicial  subdivision  of 
the  comitatus,  and  that  a  judge,  or  some  other  delegate 
of  the  count,  exercised  jurisdiction  there.  At  any  rate 
the  inhabitants  of  a  plebs,  and  more  conspicuously  still, 
the  small  group  of  neighbors  associated  in  a  parish,  came 
to  look  upon  themselves  as  forming  a  practical  social 


*  Siena  to-day  contains  sixteen  parishes,  or  populi,  within  the  walls. 
Probably  that  number  corresponds  to  the  original  number  in  the  days  of  the 
republic.  See  Cappelletti,  "Le  Chiese  d'ltalia,"  Vol.  XVII,  p.  531. 


cd 

H-l 

<3 

O 

r5 

a 

_z 

_"S 
H 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  49 

unit.  The  simple  country  folk,  who  loved  their  parish 
church  as  the  familiar  centre  where  as  infants  they  had 
been  baptized,  where  as  youths  and  maidens  they  had 
received  confirmation,  and  in  whose  holy  precincts  they 
expected  to  be  buried,  would  linger  after  mass  or  even- 
song, and,  seated  under  the  elm  spreading  its  shade  before 
the  door,  would  discuss  their  common  interests  as  de- 
fined by  paths,  roads,  pasture,  cattle,  and  streams.  In 
the  case  of  a  town  the  neighbors  of  street  and  parish 
would  find  themselves  no  less  absorbed  by  questions 
touching  cisterns,  fountains,  public  hygiene,  and  the 
maintenance  and  the  repair  of  the  church.  Trusty 
men,  elected  from  the  parish  associates,  looked  into 
the  various  neighborhood  issues  submitted  to  them,  and 
presently  might  even  be  called  upon  to  act  as  judges  and 
settle  a  quarrel  between  fellow-parishioners  involved 
in  a  dispute.  Everywhere,  in  hundreds  and  thousands 
of  small  centres,  in  town  and  country  alike,  this  modest, 
almost  invisible  self-activity  sprang  into  being,  accele- 
rated by  the  decay  of  the  central  power;  and  because  it 
was  sound  at  heart,  and  provided  for  the  most  immediate 
and  primal  needs  of  society,  it  was  destined  not  only  to 
survive,  but  to  grow  and  crowd  the  dominant  system 
of  misrule,  called  feudalism,  from  its  seat. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  neighborhood  assemblies 
tended  to  become  permanent  and  regular,  and  to  draw 
increasingly  important  subjects  within  the  range  of 
their  discussion.  Such  would  be,  especially  for  the 
villages  of  the  countryside,  the  regulation  of  the  tie 
binding  them  to  their  feudal  lord,  perched  above  them 
in  his  castle.  By  the  eleventh  century  we  find  elected 
representatives,  called  boni  homines,  signing  contracts 


50  SIENA 

with  feudal  landowners,  sitting  in  judgment  over  their 
fellows  much  like  a  regular  court,  and  meeting  with 
other  boni  homines  to  discuss  the  common  business  of 
contiguous  parishes  and  even  of  larger  geographical  dis- 
tricts. In  the  cities,  where  men  lived  more  closely 
together  and  were  pressingly  dependent  on  each  other's 
cooperation,  the  need  for  common  action  was  even  more 
urgent  than  in  the  country.  Proceeding  from  particular 
interests  to  more  general  ones,  the  neighbors  finally 
took  up  the  great  matter  of  self-defence.  Only  as  the 
inhabitants  of  a  town  learned  from  their  feudal  masters 
the  invaluable  lesson  of  force  and  took  measures  to 
man  their  walls  and  gates  at  the  approach  of  danger, 
did  they  give  the  final  and  conclusive  proof  concerning 
their  ability  to  support  the  responsibilities  of  self- 
government.  The  attention  to  questions  of  defence  and 
war  would  of  necessity  involve  the  whole  town,  and  is, 
wherever  we  encounter  it,  a  sure  indication  that  the 
cooperation  among  the  original  groups  had  reached  a 
relatively  advanced  stage. 

For  many  generations  of  that  submerged  epoch  of  the 
mediaeval  period  to  wKicn  we  refer  currently  as  the 
Dark^  Age,  there  was,  therefore.,  jsome  limited  form  of 
self-government,  of  which  the  boni  homines,  entrusted 
with  the  business  oF  the,  parish,  or  of  some  limited  social 
or  agricultural  group,  are  the  symbol.  They  have 
hardly  begun  to  represent  the  interests  of  trie  larger  unit, 
the  town,  when  we  find  them  adopting  a  name  indicative 
of  their  new  honor — they  call  themselves  consuls. 
The  appearance  of  the  name  is  a  certain  sign  of  an 
enlarged  and  improved  organization,  but  it  does  not 
mean,  as  used  to  be  maintained,  that  the  citizens  now 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  51 

first  experimented  in  self-government.  On  the  con- 
trary, we  should  now  be  amply  convinced  that  extensive 
self-governing  activities  characterized  all  the  Italian 
towns  long  before  we  hear  of  consuls.  And  just  as  the 
consular  officials  are  by  no  means  synchronous  with  the 
beginnings  of  democracy,  so  a  town  provided  with  such 
dignitaries  has  not  necessarily  renounced  allegiance  to 
the  emperor  and  his  agents,  and  entered  into  all  the 
rights  of  sovereignty  and  independence.  J^\\  through 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  when  we  know 
defimteJ^hj^he_T^scan  communes  were  governed  by 
consuls  or  some  other  elected  authority?,  when,  further- 
more^ they  showed  everj^  ^^_  of  a  vigorous  self- 
consciousness,  theY-did-JLOt—Conceive  themselves  as 
entirely  emancipated  from  the  authority  of  the  empire. 
Self-government  an?  independence— these  were  indeed 
the  twin  objects  of  every  town  beginning  to  disentangle 
itself  from  the  feudal  net;  but  we  must  accustom  our- 
selves to  think  of  both  of  them  as  reached  by  very 
devious  paths,  and  after  a  process  like  the  annual 
coming  of  the  spring,  which  for  long  weeks  advances 
and  recedes  and  again  advances,  until  the  young  season, 
bringing  fresh  and  ever  fresh  battalions  to  the  front, 
drives  old  winter  into  hopeless  flight. 

The  first  reference  to  a  governing  body  of  consuls  in  the 
city  oTISiena  tieloTTgirtS'tK^yeaF 1 125.*  In  the  previous 
year  (1124)  we  have  a  reference  to  boni  homines  who, 
in  representation  of  their  city,  accompanied  the  bishop 
of  Siena,  Gualfredo,  to  Rome,  in  order  to  help  plead 


*  Pasqui,  "Document!,"  etc.,  p.  573.  The  reference  occurs  in  a  deposition 
made  by  witnesses  summoned  in  1177  in  the  course  of  the  interminable 
Siena-Arezzo  conflict. 


52  SIENA 

the  cause  of  their  diocese  when  that  zealous  prelate 
reopened  the  interminable  feud  with  Arezzo  over  the 
eighteen  baptisteries.  These  two  notices  suggest  the 
connection,  amounting  almost  to  identity,  between  boni 
homines  and  consuls.  Very  probably  the  boni  homines 
of  the  city  parishes  or  other  minor  groups,  with  the 
growth  of  common  interests,  had  been  for  some  time 
meeting  together  to  take  advice,  and  very  probably  the 
full  assembly  of  boni  homines  had  been  found  too 
cumbersome  for  the  satisfactory  dispatch  of  business. 
On  the  election  of  an  executive  committee  of  boni 
homines,  involving  for  the  first  time  the  representation 
of  the  whole  town,  the  higher  dignity  of  the  new  body 
was  recognized  by  dhejidoptiorTbt  the  title,  about  which 
still  hung  the  glamor  of  the  Roman  republic — the  title 
qTconsuta Everywhere  in  Tuscany  the  consuls  came 
forward  about  the  same  time.  For  Pisa  and  Lucca 
they  can  be  proved  shortly  after  1080;*  in  the  case  of 
Florence  the  first  reference  to  the  new  magistracy 
belongsTo"  tHe~year  H38;t  and  as  regards  Siena,  we^ 
first  hear  of  consuls,  as  already  stated,  in  1125.  But 
where  there  are  consuls  there  is  a  commune,  for  when 
the  constituent  groups  came  together  to  give  themselves 
a  common  set  of  officials  they  recognized  also  that  they 
had  created  a  new  practical  unity.  And  let  the  reader 
note  that  this  new  unity,  the  commune,  is  not  identical 
with  the  town  or  city.  Town  and  city  are  geograph- 
ical expressions,  but  the  commune  denotes  a  political 
entity,  to  the  privileges  of  which  the  citizen  body 


*  See  Henry's  Privileges  of  1081,  Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.,"  IV,  20,  and 
Ficker,  "Forschungen,"  IV,  no.  81. 
f  Davidsohn,  "  Geschichte,"  I,  345. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  53 

taken  as  a  whole  need  not  be,  and  very  generally  was 
not,  admitted. 

The  general  appearance  of  the  consulship  among 
the  Tuscan  towns  about  the  year  uoo  would  tend  to 
show  that,  in  spite  of  an  infinite  variation  in  detail 
among  them,  they  all  presented  an  essential  identity  in 
social  structure  and  political  experience.  In  attempt- 
ing now  to  take  a  closer  view  of  the  new  office,  let  us 
keep  before  our  minds  the  unfamiliarity  of  the  age 
with  political  thought  and  action.  Must  it  not  fill  a 
modern  man  with  surprise  that  no  town  exhibited  a 
sense  of  having  done  anything  meritorious  in  providing 
itself  with  an  elected  magistracy,  and  that  none  showed 
the  least  tendency  to  magnify  its  courage  with  a  ringing 
Declaration  of  Rights  ?  Such  ideas  and  methods 
characterize  a  struggle  for  freedom  conducted  by  a 
people  who  have  achieved  political  consciousness.  In 
the  Middle  Age  self-government  was  never  evoked,  as 
has  been  frequently  the  case  in  our  own  day,  by  political 
theory,  but  was  a  groping,  practical  growth,  nursed 
among  small  groups  and  made  necessary  by  the  bar- 
barous incompetence  of  the  official  government.  On 
this  account  the  consuls  did  not  for  a  long  time  pass  out 
of  the  realm  of  experiment.  One  year  they  were  elected 
to  represent  the  commune,  another  not — the  single 
groups  being  evidently  content  on  occasion  to  fall  back 
on  the  older,  though  less  manageable,  institution  of  the 
boni  homines.  Everywhere  it  was  the  same,  but  every- 
where, too,  experience  would  teach  the  advantage  for 
the  town  of  an  uninterrupted  central  direction  of  affairs 
secured  by  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  new 
magistracy.  Under  these  circumstances,  toward  the 


54  SIENA 

middle  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  consulship  began  to 
function  more  regularly,*  and  about  the  same  time, 
also,  the  elaboration  of  the  new  government  in  the 
direction  of  political  effectiveness  had  made  considerable 
progress.  With  the  consuls  came  to  be  associated  a 
council,  representing  more  or  less  numerous  groups  of 
citizens  and  acting  as  an  advisory  body — the  nucleus, 
it  will  be  seen,  of  a  future  legislature;  and,  further,  with 
a  view  to  protecting  the  citizens  against  possible  illegal- 
ities on  the  part  of  the  chief  magistracy,  there  was 
drawn  up,  at  first  in  rude  and  summary  form,  a  docu- 
ment defining  its  functions.  This  received  the  name 
of  breve  consulum,  and  on  it  the  consuls,  on  assuming 
their  duties,  took  the  oath  of  office.  Growing  from 
year  to  year  as  the  result  of  accumulated  political  ex- 
perience, it  became  the  celebrated  communal  constitu- 
tion of  the  Age  of  the  Republics.  In  the  early  days  we 
hear  very  generally,  too,  of  the  meeting  of  the  whole 
people,  the  parlamentum,  called  for  the  purpose  of 
laying  important  matters  of  state  before  the  general 
body  of  citizens,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  the  parla- 
mentum  anywhere  became  an  effective  instrument  of 
control  or  acquired  other  than  a  theoretical  claim  to 
power  and  sovereignty.  To  the  development  of  these 
and  similar  institutions  which  gradually  took  shape  to 
serve  the  needs  of  the  new  republic  of  Siena  I  shall 
later  devote  a  separate  chapter.  At  present  it  behooves 
us  to  attend  the  consuls  in  their  first  efforts  to  direct 
the  destiny  of  the  city. 

*  In  Siena,  as  late  as  1151,  we  encounter  instead  of  consuls  or  boni  homines, 
a  single  executive,  one  Scudacollus.  The  fact  is  a  further  support  of  the 
theory  of  the  elastic  nature  of  the  early  republican  institutions.  For  Scuda- 
collus see  Ficker,  "Forschungen,"  IV,  no.  120. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  55 

The  chief  concern  of  the  new  magistracy  was  to 
live.  Strictly  speaking  it  was  a  rebel  magistracy,  for 
it  represented  the  self-governing  attempt  of  a  com- 
munity which  legally  was  governed  by  the  emperor 
and  his  delegate,  the  count.  The  count  of  Siena,  as 
we  have  seenT  had  long  since.  byTeason  or  the  emperor's 
weakness,  the  feudal  usurpations,  and  the  ecclesiastical 
immunities,  become  a  negligible  factor,  but,  as  it  hap- 
penedT^bout  the  middle  of  the  same  century  which 
saw  the  rise  of  the  consuls,  a  really  great  emperor, 
Frederick  I  of  the  HQus,e,  _o£JHohenstaufen,  called 
Barbarossa,  came  to  the  throne  in  Germany,  and 
undertook  to^  revive  all  the  obsolete  imperial  rights  m 
his  fair  Dominion  beyond  the  Alps.  To  general 
mediaeval  history  belong  Frederick's  heroic  attempt  and 
failure  to  turn  back  the  wheel  of  time  and  bring  the 
cities  underthe old  subjection.  In  Lombardy,  especially, 
where,  owing  to  geographical  conditions,  urban  life 
was  more  developed  than  in  Tuscany,  they  met  heroism 
with  heroism,  and  after  a  great  victory  at  Legnano 
(£176)  forced  The  emperor  to  confirm  their  right  to 
elect  tHeir  own  officialjfahd  to  conduct  their  own  affairs. 
TKcTpeace  document,  a  notable  milestone  in  the  histgrv 
of  democracy,  was  signed  at  Constance  in  southern 
Germany,  in  the  year  1183.  The  Tuscan  cities  played 
only  a  secondary  part  in  the  struggle,  and  did  not  receive 
the  benefits  of  the  peace,  but  they  had  with  character- 
istic agility  used  the  embarrassment  of  the  emperor  to 
strengthen  their  position.  When  Frederick,  therefore, 
toward  the  end  of  his  reign,  and  being  now  an  old  man, 
whose  red  beard  had  long  since  turned  white,  paid  a 
visit  to  Tuscany,  he  found  the  cities  not  only  governing 


56  SIENA 

themselves  by  the  consular  regime,  but  possessed  by 
conquest  each  one  of  its  comitatus  or  a  large  part  of  it. 
The  fiery  emperor  did  not  hesitate  to  show  his  dis- 
pleasure at  this  situation,  took  measures  which  raised 
the  spectre  of  a  Tuscan  war,  counterpart  of  the  late 
struggle  in  Lombardy,  and  then,  satisfied  with  the 
vigorous  affirmation  of  his  rights,  relented,  offering  a 
compromise.  A  picture  of  his  fortunes  in  Tuscany  at 
this  critical  junction  is  furnished  by  a  review  of  his 
relations  to  Siena.  Let  us  examine  them  as  briefly  as 
possible. 

In  the  year  1179  the  emperor's  Italian  legate,  the 
Archbishop  Christian  of  Mainz,  had  been  captured  by 
some  private  enemies  and  imprisoned  at  Montefiascone, 
pending  the  payment  of  an  immense  ransom.  In 
return  for  a  contribution  to  this  end  the  Sienese  received 
from  the  prisoner  a  charter,*  recognizing  not  only  the 
consuls  but  their  rule  over  such  districts  in  the  comitatus 
as  they  had  already  annexed  by  the  defeat  of  the  feudal 
barons.  As  usual  the  concession  did  not  hinder  the 
application  of  the  law  of  might,  as  soon  as  the  tables 
were  turned.  When,  in  1185,  Frederick  paid  the  visit 
to  Tuscany  already  referred  to,  he  attempted  as  before  in 
Lombardy,  to  save  the  feudal  system  with  its  hierarchy 
of  nobles,  by  destroying  the  usurped  power  of  the  cities. 
Siena  resisted  this  diminution  of  her  authority,  yielding 
only  after  a  siege  conducted  by  the  emperor's  son, 
King  Henry.  In  a  reconciliation,  so-called,  of  June, 
1 1 86,  the  Sienese  threw  themselves  abjectly  at  their 
sovereign's  feet.f  Pleased  with  the  effect  produced, 
the  young  king  gave  back  to  the  town  some  of  its  cus- 

*  Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.,"  IV,  575.  f  MM.,  IV,  467. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  57 

ternary  rights,  solemnly  confirming  them  in  a  parchment 
over  his  signature.* 

"In  the  name  of  the  Holy  and  Indivisible  Trinity,  We,  Henry 
VI.,  by  divine  favor,  king  of  the  Romans  .  .  .  make  known  to 
all  the  faithful  of  the  empire,  present  as  well  as  future,  that  in 
view  of  the  merits  of  our  trusty  subjects,  the  citizens  of  Siena,  we 
grant  them  (universitati  ipsorum)  the  free  election  of  their  consuls. 
However,  the  consuls  shall  receive  the  investiture  annually  from 
our  hand  or  that  of  our  most  glorious  father,  Frederick,  emperor 
of  the  Romans,  or  that  of  our  successors,  without  any  charge  or 
exaction.  ...  In  addition  we  grant  them  full  jurisdiction  in  the 
city  of  Siena,  and  outside  the  city,  hi  the  comitatus,  over  the  men 
belonging  to  the  bishop  of  Siena  or  to  any  Sienese  resident  at  the 
time  this  document  is  drawn  up,  saving  the  right  of  appeal  in 
cases  amounting  to  more  than  twenty  pounds.  Also,  we  grant  to 
the  Sienese  people  the  fodrum  f  of  these  same  men  ...  All 
nobles  outside  the  city  and  all  other  men  throughout  the  Sienese 
comitatus,  except  those  noted  above,  with  all  jurisdiction  over 
them,  their  fodrum  and  services  in  general,  we  retain  in  our 
power.  Also,  we  concede  to  the  Sienese  the  privilege  of  coining 
money  hi  the  city  of  Siena.  ...  In  witness  whereof"  [Follows 
a  long  list  of  witnesses,  the  seal  of  King  Henry,  and  the  date, 
October,  1186]. 

The  full  importance  of  this  document  will  appear 
in  the  light  of  a  rapid  recapitulation.  The  consular 
regime  had  now  been  in  existence  for  many  years,  being 
proved  for  1125,  and  reaching  back,  with  high  probabil- 
ity, to  an  earlier  date.  Moreover,  long  before  the  ap- 
pearance of  consuls,  there  had  been  self-government  of 
one  sort  or  another,  beginning  with  simple  parish 


*  Ibid.,  IV,  469. 

f  The  fodrum  was  an  important  service,  consisting  usually  of  provisions 
paid  by  the  barons  to  the  emperor  when  he  was  on  a  journey. 


58  SIENA 

matters  and  increasing  steadily  in  scope.  Although  the 
providing  for  local  interests  of  a  purely  administrative 
nature  was  sanctioned  by  a  long  and  uninterrupted  usage, 
and  was  tolerated,  if  not  expressly  endorsed,  by  the  cen- 
tral feudal  power,  the  seizure  of  the  political  direction  by 
the  citizens,  or  any  group  of  citizens,  as  indicated  by 
the  election  of  consuls,  was  indisputably  a  usurpation. 
Luckily  for  Siena  similar  usurpations  were  universal 
in  Italy,  and  fell,  furthermore,  at  the  auspicious  moment 
when  the  empire  was  engaged  in  a  struggle  for  its  very 
life  with  the  church.  The  result  of  multiform  embar- 
rassments was  that  the  successive  emperors,  however 
deeply  they  may  have  resented  the  illegal  procedure  of 
the  cities,  had  to  move  cautiously.  Pisa1  withou^  whose 
money  and _  ships  the  imperial  action  in  southern  and 
central  Itaj^jgguld_have  been  paralyzed,  as  early  as 
1081  won  a  privilege  from  Henry  IV,  by  which  it 
Eecarfie "practically '"an independent  republic.*  In  the 
same  yeaTT^ucca  received  a  patent  conferring  extensive 
prerogatives.!  A  hundred  years  later,  in  consequence 
of  their  victory  at  Legnano  (1176),  the  Lombard  com- 
munes acquired  a  sweeping  sanction  of  the  liberties 
which  they  had  long  ago  seized  as  a  natural  and  inde- 
feasible right.  Siena,  generally  on  the  side  of  the  em- 
peror against  the  church,  had  coaxed  favors  from 
several  sovereigns  in  payment  for  her  loyalty,  but,  as 
far  as  appears  from  surviving  records,  had  never 
enforced  the  legalization  of  the  consulship.  However, 
the  emperors  and  their  agents  had  not  refused  to  deal 
with  the  elected  representatives  of  the  city,  thereby 

*Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.,"  IV,  19. 

f  Picker,  "Forschungen,"  IV,  no.  81. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  59 

accepting  and  honoring  them  in  fact,  if  not  in  law.* 
Under  the  circumstances  the  status  of  Siena  was  both 
ambiguous  and  uncomfortable.  The  emperors,  how- 
ever grateful  to  the  town  for  its  services  against  the  pope 
and  other  enemies,  conceded  to  it  as  little  as  possible  in 
the  hope  that  the  time  might  come  when  they  would 
be  strong  enough  to  reintegrate  the  feudal  rule;  and 
the  citizens,  for  their  part,  although  anxious  to  legalize 
a  revolutionary  magistracy,  found  a  limited  satisfaction 
in  not  being  hindered  in  the  exercise  of  self-government. 
In  the  year  1186  the  contradictory  position  of  emperor 
and  townsmen  led  to  a  war  in  which  the  victory  re- 
mained, as  we  have  seen,  with  the  feudal  lord.  King 
Henry  could,  therefore,  dictate  a  settlement.  His 
initial  measure  was  to  declare  null  and  void  the  "sub- 
missions," by  which  the  lusty  city  authorities  had 
forced  their  yoke  upon  the  nobles  of  the  country. 
These  nobles  he  took  under  his  protection,  declaring 
them  subject  only  to  himself.  But,  although  he  thus 
set  back  the  development  of  the  city,  he  made  up  for  his 
action,  in  part  at  least,  by  a  charter  recognizing  the 
consular  rule  within  the  walls  and,  beyond  their  circuit, 
over  the  territory  of  the  bishop  and  of  other  Sienese 
residents.  The  consuls  were  to  be  freely  elected  accord- 
ing to  local  custom,  but  were  to  be  fitted  into  the  frame- 
work of  feudalism — a  framework  which  Henry's  posi- 
tion as  a  feudal  chief  obliged  him  to  maintain — by 
being  enfeoffed  with  the  city  by  their  suzerain.  How- 
ever much  the  citizens  may  have  mourned  the  many 

*  For  the  dealings  with  Siena  of  Rainald  of  Koln,  Frederick's  plenipoten- 
tiary in  Italy  in  the  period  1164-67,  see  Davidsohn,  "Geschichte  von 
Florenz,"  p.  498.  Rainald's  favors  look  very  much  like  an  express  recogni- 
'tion  of  the  republican  regime. 


60  SIENA 

reductions  of  authority  stated  or  implied  in  the  charter 
of  1186,  they  had  good  reason  to  rejoice  that  their  self- 
government  now  had  a  firm  footing  in  law.  In  the 
shelter  of  the  imperial  privilege  the  free  institutions  of 
the  town,  still  in  a  rudimentary  form,  could  be  elaborated 
with  greater  dispatch  and  security. 

It  is  perfectly  plain  that  the  fundamental  considera- 
tion with  Henry,  in  issuing  his  diploma,  was  to  preserve 
the  country  nobility  in  its  immediate  dependence  on  the 
empire.  For  this  purpose  he  made  a  concession  to  the 
city  in  the  matter  of  self-government,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  declared  firmly  that  from  the  nobles  and 
imperial  fiefs  in  general  the  townsmen  must  keep  their 
grasping  tentacles.  From  his  point  of  view  his  policy 
is  perfectly  intelligible.  If  things  went  on  in  the  future 
as  they  had  been  going  on  in  the  past,  each  city  would 
presently  be  paramount  in  its  contado,  the  feudal 
nobility  would  be  reduced  at  best  to  a  class  of  citizen- 
landholders,  and  the  emperor  would  find  the  services 
due  to  him  usurped  by  the  towns,  his  income  gone, 
and  himself  in  effect  crowded  out  of  his  kingdom 
of  Italy.  The  citizens,  on  the  other  -hand,  were  as 
imperatively  driven  to  persist  in  their  course,  for, 
with  the  comitatus  and  its  highways  in  the  hands 
of  the  nobility,  what  assurance  did  they  have  that 
they  could  pursue  the  trade  by  which  they  pros- 
pered ?  They  might  bend  a  humble  knee  before 
their  suzerain  coming  at  the  head  of  an  irresistible 
army,  but,  as  they  held  life  dear,  they  would  have 
to  strive  openly  and  secretly  to  bind  the  countryside 
to  their  interests  with  hoops  of  steel.  This  terri- 
torial struggle  was,  therefore,  the  necessary  concom- 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  61 

itant   of  the   struggle   for   political   recognition   which 
we  have  just  followed. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  all  the  towns  had  no  sooner  taken 
their  first  steps  on  the  road  to  self-government  than 
they  began  to  realize  their  parallel  aim  of  controlling 
the  neighborhood.  The  whole  twelfth  century  of 
Sienese  history  is  filled  with  wars  conducted  for  this 
end,  and  about  the  same  time  we  first  hear  of  consuls, 
we  hear  also  of  the  first  "submissions"  made  to  the  city. 
In  1137  the  Soarzi  surrendered  a  fourth  part  of  Monte- 
castelli  and  other  dominions  to  Siena;*  in  1138  Count 
Manente  ceded  to  the  bishop  and  people  one-sixth  of 
the  castle  of  Radicofani,  on  the  border  toward  Rome;f 
in  1145  the  abbot  of  San  Salvatore  on  Monte  Amiata 
followed  the  example  of  Count  Manente  and  yielded 
certain  rights  of  his  own  in  Radicofani  ;J  in  July,  1151, 
Count  Paltonerius  of  the  Forteguerra  family  gave  up  San 
Giovanni  d'Asso,  a  fortified  place  to  the  east;§  in  1157 
the  Ardengheschi  sold  the  hill  of  Orgia,  just  beyond  the 
southern  gate,  after  the  Sienese  had  taken  and  burned 
the  castle  there;  ||  and  in  1168  Count  Ildebrandino 
Cacciaguerra  lost  the  important  little  town  of  Asciano.fl 
These  are  a  few  items  selected  at  random  from  an  almost 
interminable  record  of  triumphs,  of  which  the  Sienese 
archive  preserves  the  moving  memory.  In  spite  of 
varying  terms  of  submission  all  the  treaties  affirm  alike 
the  purpose  of  drawing  the  baronage  within  the  radius 
of  the  city's  influence.  As  this  was  the  feudal  age,  the 

*  Archivio  di  Stato,  "Caleffo  vecchio,"  c.  4*. 

f  Ibid.,  "Caleffo  vecchio,"  c.  2it. 

j  Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.,"  IV,  567. 

§  Archivio  di  Stato,  "Caleffo  vecchio,"  c.  21. 

II  Ibid.,  c.  17.  1f  Ibid.,  c.  jt,  8 


62  SIENA 

conquered  nobles  had  imposed  upon  them  also  a 
ceremony  of  submission,  some  of  the  details  of  which 
we  may  learn  from  the  legal  documents.  From  the  parch- 
ment of  1 157,  for  instance,  we  learn  that  the  Counts  Ar- 
dengheschi  were  obliged  to  appear  in  person  before  the 
people  of  Siena  assembled  in  parliament  in  front  of  the 
episcopal  church,  and  to  confirm  their  renunciation  of 
Orgia  with  an  oath.  The  notary  invited  to  give  the 
surrender  the  necessary  legal  form,  affirmed  the  ap- 
pearance of  the-  counts  in  language  devoid  of  every 
human  touch,  but  our  imagination  readily  revives  the 
stirring  scene.  The  present  wonderful  cathedral  with 
its  facade  gay  as  a  parti-colored  carpet  did  not  yet 
exist;  in  its  place  stood  a  smaller  and  a  ruder  church, 
dedicated,  like  its  successor,  to  the  Virgin  and  ap- 
proached by  a  flight  of  steps  from  the  open  square  in 
front.  On  this  square,  on  that  February  day  duly 
noted  in  the  document,  are  crowded  the  citizens  of  high 
and  low  degree,  gesticulating,  chattering,  exulting  in 
the  fall  of  their  enemies.  At  last  the  counts  appear 
upon  the  stone  terrace  before  the  church  to  take  the 
oath.  Silence  falls  upon  the  close-pressed  throng  until 
the  decisive  word  is  spoken,  and  then,  a  shout!  The 
accumulated  hate  of  generations  finds  vent  in  that 
spontaneous  cry.* 

*  As  it  may  interest  the  reader  to  note  the  kind  of  terms  on  which  defeated 
noblemen  usually  surrendered  their  sovereignty  and  became  citizens,  I  add 
the  document  by  which  four  counts  of  the  Cacciaconti  family  acknowledged 
their  subjection  to  Siena: 

"In  the  name  of  the  Lord,  Amen.  We,  Cacciacomes,  Cacciaguerra, 
Guido,  son  of  Cacciacomes,  and  Rainaldus,  son  of  Ildebrandinus,  swear  on 
the  Holy  Gospels,  that  henceforth  and  forever  we  shall  be  Sienese  citizens, 
and  shall  preserve  and  protect  every  person  of  the  city  of  Siena  and  of  its 
suburbs  and  their  goods.  .  .  .  And  we,  Cacciacomes,  Cacciaguerra,  and  Rai- 
naldus promise  to  reside  within  the  walls  of  Siena  for  three  continuous 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  63 

In  all  the  earlier  documents  preserved  in  the  Sienese 
archive  the  submission,  on  the  part  of  the  conquered 
nobleman,  is  made  not  only  to  the  people  but  also  to  the 
bishop,  and  sometimes  to  the  bishop  alone.  This  was 
an  empty  formula,  which  should  mislead  no  one  into 
the  belief  that  the  bishop  was  the  ruler  of  the  city,  or 
even  in  the  slightest  way  the  special  beneficiary  of  the 
victories  of  the  citizens.  The  bishop  had  indeed  long 
been  a  great  lay  lord,  as  is  amply  proved  by  the  diploma 
of  1055,  but  with  the  rise  of  the  commune  he  found  him- 
self in  much  the  same  position  as  the  other  lords,  and 
by  degrees  which  escape  our  attention  yielded  his 
temporal  sovereignty  to  the  vigorous  commonwealth. 
Signs  that  his  yielding  was  not  altogether  graceful  are 
not  lacking,  for  we  hear  of  one  bishop,  Ranieri  by  name, 
who  in  the  struggle  between  Barbarossa  and  Pope 
Alexander  leaned  too  openly  toward  the  church  and  was 
driven  out  of  the  city  by  a  popular  uprising.  He  died 
in  exile  (1170)  "expulsus  a  scismaticis" — a  not  un- 
common fate  in  those  days  of  political  and  ecclesiastical 
revolution.*  But  if  the  Sienese  were  thus  occasionally 
in  conflict  with  their  bishop  as  a  power  commanding  a 
considerable  political  influence,  they  had  no  serious 

months  in  time  of  peace  as  well  as  in  time  of  war.  (Guido,  son  of  Caccia- 
comes,  makes  the  same  promise  for  two  months.)  And  we  swear  we  will  give 
ear  and  attend  to  the  commands  of  the  Sienese  consuls  as  well  as  to  the  com- 
mands of  the  court  officials  (consules  placiti)  who  will  summon  us  in  matters 
of  justice.  And  we  shall  retain  the  privileges  enumerated  in  various  chapters 
of  the  breve  constilum  (i.  e.  the  Sienese  constitution).  .  .  .  And  we  shall  offer 
every  year  to  the  cathedral  church  of  Siena,  on  the  festival  of  Our  Lady  of 
August,  one  candle  of  six  pounds  (for  our  possession  of)  Monte  Santa  Maria, 
and  one  of  eight  pounds  for  Chiusure  (and  so  forth  for  six  other  places 
specified).  Done  at  Siena.  .  .  .  February,  1197." — Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.," 
IV,  583- 

*  For  the  narrative  of  Bishop  Ranieri's  conflict  with  Siena  see  an  article  by 
Davidsohn,  "Bull.  Sen.,"  V,  63 /. 


64  SIENA 

quarrel  with  him  as  spiritual  head  of  the  state.  On 
the  contrary  they  looked  upon  the  great  prelate  with 
sincere  veneration,  and  when  they  ordered  the  notaries 
to  formulate  the  surrender  of  towns  and  castles  as  made 
to  him,  they  did  so  in  the  prudent  calculation  that  their 
conquests,  essentially  illegal,  might  seem  less  offensive 
by  being  draped  with  the  authority  of  the  church.*  In 
consequence  the  imperial  power,  which  the  illusory 
phrasing  planned  to  conciliate,  had  no  sooner  begun 
to  wane  than  the  citizens  dispensed  with  their  stalking- 
horse.  By  1186  the  position  of  the  townsmen  had 
become  so  firmly  established  that  not  only  was  the 
fiction  of  the  bishop's  supremacy  entirely  dropped  in 
the  documents  of  submission,  but  in  the  imperial  char- 
ter of  that  year  the  sovereignty  of  Siena  over  the  episcopal 
territories  was  expressly  recognized.  It  certainly  de- 
serves to  be  noted  as  a  sign  of  the  advancing  organiza- 
tion of  the  state,  that  by  the  year  1186  the  church  of 
Siena  was,  as  regards  its  landed  possessions,  already 
subordinated  to  the  civil  power. 

The  breakdown  of  the  empire  in  Tuscany,jfelaj£ed 
as  far  as^humjnTp^^ 

Barbarossa,  came  with  suddenness^^nd^completeness 
.in i  the  jf ear  1197.  jnjjiajryear  Henry  VI?  the  energetic 
and^unscrupulous  successor  of  Frederick,  died  in  Sicily, 
leaving __asTKTs  heir  a  boy  in  swaddling-clothes.  No 
sooner  did  this  news  reacr^the  north  than_lhe  Tuscan 
cities  rose  in  rpvn|t.  They  met  at  San  Genesio,  beneath 
that  lofty  San  Miniato,  which  ~was'~trTe'~centre  of Jthe 
imperial  a^rrnmsjTation  for  the  Tuscan  prpvinrp,  ?mj 

*  The  Florentines,  among  others,  followed  a  similar  practice.     See  for 
their  procedure  Santini,  "Contado  e  Politica  Esteriore  del  secolo  XII,"  p.  44. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  65 

formed  a  league  planned  to  secure  them  against  any 
fufufe'tyranny  of  the^emgire^  Now  the  best  security 
of  a  free  condition  was  the  subjection  of  the  neighboring 
lords,  mainstays  of  the  imperial  power,  who  would  have 
been  reduced  to  obedience  long  ago  and  definitely,  but 
for  the  frequent  interposition  in  their  favor  of  the  em- 
peror. With  Henry's  death  came  the  great  opportunity : 
the  cities  formed  their  spontaneous  union,  and  proceeded 
straightway  to  realize  its  main  object,  to  wit,  that  each 
city  should  put  itself  in  possession  of  its  contado. 
During  the  following  years  while  the  empire  was  almost 
annihilated  through  the  convulsions  attending  a  dis- 
puted succession,  the  Sienese  reduced,  either  to  direct 
submission  or  to  dependence  through  the  less  humiliat- 
ing form  of  an  alliance,  all  the  great  families  which  still 
defied  their  authority.  In  the  year  1197  the  sharp 
sword  of  the  townsmen  once  more  smote  the  Caccia- 
conti,  who  now  definitely  became  Sienese  citizens;*  in 
the  year  1202  the  Counts  Ardengheschi  agreed  to  pay 
an  annual  hearth-tax  of  twenty-six  denari  for  each  fam- 
ily resident  in  their  many  lands ;f  in  the  same  year  the 
Counts  of  Sarteano  signed  an  offensive  alliance  directed 
against  Montepulciano;J  finally,  in  the  year  1203,  the 
Aldobrandeschi,  the  greatest  of  all  the  feudal  families 
and  destined  to  loom  terrible  on  the  horizon  for  another 
century  and  a  half,  signed  a  treaty  of  friendship,  the 
first,  if  inconsiderable,  step  in  the  long  process  of  their 
subjection.§ 

As  minor  towns  in  the  neighborhood  were  not  less 


*  See  foot-note,  p.  62. 

t  Malavolti,  p.  41,  della  Prima  Parte.  J  Ibid. 

$  Archivio  di  Stato,  Section  Diplomatico.     Date  Jan.  4,  1202  (old  style). 


66  SIENA 

offensive  to  the  pride  and  ambition  of  Siena  than  the 
great  lords,  this  same  occasion,  when  the  empire  was  in 
abeyance  and  the  Tuscan  towns  were  bound  together 
by  a  general  convention,  was  used  to  bring  into  sub- 
jection all  neighboring  places  which  might  become  the 
basis  of  military  or  commercial  action  against  the  re- 
gional metropolis.  In  pursuit  of  this  policy,  Montalcino, 
crowning  a  magnificent  conical  hill  to  the  south,  fell, 
not  without  stubborn  resistance,  into  Sienese  hands 
(1202).*  Thereupon  the  townsmen  girded  their  loins 
for  a  still  more  hardy  enterprise,  the  capture  and  sub- 
jection of  Montepulciano,  which  lifted  its  towers  and 
battlements  not  far  to  the  east  of  Montalcino.  But  now 
appeared  prominently  a  new  difficulty,  which  had  long 
cast  its  shadow  before.  The  attempt  to  seize  Monte- 
pulciano was  furiously  resented  by  the  Florentines,  even 
though  they  were  in  formal  alliance  with  the  Sienese. 
Not  content  with  enjoying  their  own  comitatus,  the 
ambitious  dwellers  of  the  Arno  valley  were  already 
aspiring  to  control  a  vaster  region,  if  not  to  dominate 
all  Tuscany.  They  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  check  the 
expansion  of  Siena,  and  determined  by  guile,  and  when 
guile  failed  by  war,  to  keep  the  Sienese  out  of  that  hill- 
town  to  their  east,  dominating  the  Chiana  valley  and 
opening  a  gate  to  all  central  Italy.  Thus  the  two  cities 
lately  allied  for  a  common  end  against  the  emperor,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  new  century  turned  upon  each 
other  with  unexampled  bitterness.  The  whole  thir- 
teenth century  resounds  with  this  struggle,  in  which 
each  seeks  aid  wherever  it  can,  from  Tuscan  city  neigh- 
bors, from  feudal  nobles,  from  pope  and  emperor. 

*  Malavolti,  p.  41,  della  Prima  Parte. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  67 

Pisa,  Lucca,  Arezzo,  Pistoia,  all  figure  in  the  conflict; 
its  object,  the  supremacy  in  Tuscany. 

The  century  which  we  have  been  considering,  the 
century  of  the  great  Hohenstaufen  emperors  Fred- 
erick I  and  Henry  VI,  did  not  close  without  a  significant 
change  in  the  chief  magistracy  of  Siena.  The  other  towns 
went  through  a  similar  evolution,  approximately  at  the 
same  time.  Did  the  consuls,  whose  number  varied  from 
three  to  six,  prove,  as  a  plural  executive,  incapable 
of  that  quick  decision  demanded  by  the  needs  of  the 
hour  ?  Very  likely  with  the  increasing  complication  of 
society,  with  friction  among  the  urban  classes,  and  with 
foreign  war,  a  certain  cumbersomeness  would  appear 
in  this  magistracy,  and  would  create  a  preference  for  a 
single  head.  Single  executives,  I  have  already  said, 
were  from  time  to  time  intercalated  in  the  succession  of 
consuls  almost  from  the  first.  The  idea  made  headway, 
and  with  the  advent  of  the  thirteenth  century,  almost 
all  the  cities  replaced  their  consuls  with  a  single  ruler, 
called  potesta.  The  first  potesta  *  of  Siena  came  from 
Lucca  in  the  year  1199;  in  the  next  year  a  native, 
Filippo  d'Orlando  Malavolti,  filled  the  office.  But  the 
young  republic  looked  with  marked  distrust  upon  a 
native  ruler,  fearful  lest  he  use  his  position  to  push  the 
material  interests  of  his  family,  or,  still  worse,  to 
perpetuate  his  power  with  the  help  of  some  faction 
and  crown  himself  the  city's  tyrant.  In  consequence, 
and  as  security  against  this  dire  eventuality,  a  decision 
was  made  after  a  period  of  fluctuation  in  favor  of  a 
foreign  potesta  on  the  ground  that  he  would  be  un- 

*  See  for  a  full  list  of  the  Sienese  potesta  "Miscellanea  Storica  Sanese," 
IV,  i86/. 


68  SIENA 

acquainted  with  the  factions  of  the  city  and  presumably 
willing  to  maintain  an  independent  position  among 
them.  His  term  of  office  in  the  beginning  lasted 
usually  one  year  and  he  was  handsomely  housed  and 
remunerated. 

It  is  impossible  to  see  the  replacement  of  the  consuls 
by  the  potesta  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  an  advance 
in  political  organization.  However,  it  was  a  change 
merely  at  the  top.  The  foundations  upon  which  the 
government  rested  did  not  suffer  change,  and  these 
foundations,  although  they  comprised,  in  a  broad  sense, 
the  whole  people  of  Siena,  were,  closely  considered, 
essentially  aristocratic.  Let  us  see  what  that  means: 
The  consular  constitution  was  undoubtedly  due  to  the 
democratic  impulse  of  the  new  centres  of  life,  the  towns, 
but  the  free  associations,  the  union  of  which  gave  birth  to 
the  commune,  were  composed  of,  or  at  least  were  directed 
and  controlled  by,  a  relatively  small  class  of  wealthy 
members.  These  alone  enjoyed  full  citizen  rights  in 
the  commune.  This  needs  to  be  said  expressly  in 
rectification  of  the  common  tendency  to  overstate  the 
case  of  the  young  democracy  of  Italy.  And  yet  that 
that  democracy  would  be  limited  in  its  early  stages  must 
appear  the  moment  we  reflect  that  the  upper  class  alone 
possessed  the  material  resources  and  commanded  the 
experience  of  life  required  to  make  the  best  of  the  new 
opportunities  which  offered  with  the  revival  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  among  the  nations.  And  that  brings 
us  to  the  question  as  to  what  elements  of  society  com- 
posed the  ruling  class  in  the  first  phase  of  the  free  com- 
mune. The  answer  varies,  within  certain  limits,  for 
the  different  towns  of  Tuscany;  but  for  Siena,  which  is 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE 


our  immediate  concern,  we  may  affirm  that  the  upper 
class  of  the  consular  era  consisted  of  a  group  of  lesser 
feudal  lords,  who,  possessed  of  fiefs  near  the  city,  dwelt 
within  the  walls  and  were  therefore  citizens,  and  that 
allied  and  practically  identical  with  them  was  a  group 
of  burghers  who  had  prospered  in  trade,  notably  in  the 
lucrative  business  of  money  barter.  This  upper  group 
of  the  well-to-do  was  variously  designated  as  nobles, 
magnates,  and  grandi.  No  effort  was  made  to  distin- 
guish socially  between  those  rich  by  virtue  of  land  and 
those  rich  by  commerce,  or  to  place  one  kind  of  riches 
above  another.  In  fact  such  a  distinction  would  have 
been  impossible  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
Sienese  gentry  engaged  in  commerce  without  a  touch  of 
the  usual  aristocratic  contempt  for  trade,  and  that  the 
successful  bankers  preferably  invested  their  funds  in 
agricultural  property.  From  the  ranks  exclusively  of 
these  leading  citizens  were  chosen  the  consuls  in  the 
early  days  of  self-government,  with  the  result  that  to 
the  prestige  which  the  dominant  class  enjoyed  by  reason 
of  its  wealth  was  added  the  further  prestige  associated 
with  political  prerogative. 

As  soon  as  the  development  of  industry  and  com- 
merce succeeded  in  awakening  new  strata  of  the  citizen 
body  to  mental  and  economic  activity,  it  became  im- 
probable that  the  favored  political  position  of  the 
oligarchy  could  be  maintained.  Then  with  the  blood 
running  red  in  their  arteries  the  masses  would  be 
certain  to  make  an  effort  to  break  down  the  monopoly 
of  the  upper  class.  The  thirteenth  century  had  hardly 
begun  when  the  people  opened  the  combat.  In  the 
year  1212  a  Sienese  chronicle  reports  a  struggle  (the 


70  SIENA 

first  of  which  we  have  definite  information)  between 
giandi  andj!>o£o/o.  It  is  the  inauguraaon^pf^the .chamer 
of  domestic  revolution,  a  long  and  dreary  story,  and 
destined  noTlo  be  closed  until  Siena  herself  ended  her 
life  as  an  independent  state.  The  chronicler  reports 
under  the  year  1212:  "St.  Francis  of  Assisi  of  the 
Order  of  the  Brothers  Minor  came  to  Siena;  and  there 
was  great  enmity  between  people  and  nobles,  and  he 
made  peace  and  union  among  them."*  No  more 
than  that:  a  class  struggle,  which  St.  Francis,  the  good 
brown  brother,  exercising  his  inspired  ministry  of  peace 
on  earth,  composed.  Slight  though  the  information 
be,  it  is  pleasant  to  have  the  assurance  that  that  kindli- 
est of  spirits  once  entered  in  very  flesh  the  gate,  paced 
the  narrow  streets,  and  laid  his  inexorable  benediction 
on  the  turbulent  factions.  Did  he  favor  the  claims  of 
the  people  against  the  grandi  ?  We  cannot  tell,  but  this 
we  know — the  brief  entry  is  precise — that  with  the 
thirteenth  century  began  a  struggle  for  a  wider  partici- 
pation of  the  people  in  the  government  of  the  city. 

The  year  1200  marks  a  convenient  mile-stone  in  the 
historyjpf  jjena  where  we  may  pause  a  moment  to  look 
backward  and  forward.  The  empire,  moving  plainly 
to  its  setting,  was  no  longer  able  to  count  greatly  in 
Tuscany  either  for  good  or  for  ill;  the  bishop,  once  a 
ruler  of  great  sway,  had  been  reduced,  as  far  as  his 
territories~wefe~concerned,  to  citizenship;  the  feudal 
nobles,  if  not  annihilated,  had  all  felt  the  rod  of  the 
burghe£pn  their  backs.  These  triumphs  of  the  twelfth 
century  declare*!  that  Siena  had  broken  her  feucTal 

*  Muratori,  "Scriptores,"  XV,  Cronica  Senese,  ad  annum,  note  4.     See 
for  confirmation  of  St.  Francis's  visit  to  Siena,  the  "Fioretti,"  chap.  XI. 


THE  FEUDAL  AGE  71 

shackles  and  had  embarked  upon  a  career  of  independ- 
ence.  _^But  a^jthe^jold  difficulties  vanished  from  the 
path  of  the  republic,  fresh  ones  rose  to  take  their  place. 
In  the  new  century  Siena  would  have  to  faceJFlorence 
to  decide  the  question  of  supremacy  in  Tuscany;  she 
would  have  to  solve_the  domestic  struggle  between  oli- 
garchs and  democrats.  And  greater  than  either  of 
these  issues,  if  we  consider  well,  she  would  have  to  meet 
the  problem,  sole  measure  of  every  community's  true 
worth,  the  problem  of  building  a  noble  mansion  for 
herself  upon  her  hills  and  finding  a  human  mind  and 
soul  to  house  therein. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  SIENESE  CHURCH 

WHAT  we  have  heard  so  far  of  the  bishop,  head 
of  the  Sienese  church,  does  not  differentiate 
him  particularly  from  any  other  feudal  lord: 
he  quarrels  with  his  neighbor  of  Arezzo  for  five  hundred 
years,  renewing  ever  and  again,  and  in  a  spirit  gro- 
tesquely unchristian,  the  attempt  to  possess  himself  of 
the  eighteen  baptisteries,  and  he  goes  on  accumulating 
immunities  until,  by  the  diploma  of  Henry  III  (1055), 
he  acquires,  in  addition  to  the  usual  jurisdiction  over 
the  clergy  in  his  diocese,  the  political  dominion  over 
territories  constituting  a  considerable  section  of  the 
city  and  county  of  Siena.  To  be  sure,  in  the  twelfth 
century,  his  temporal  authority  waned,  being  gradually 
absorbed  by  the  rising  commune,  but  did  he  for  that 
reason  become  an  unimportant  figure  in  the  state  ? 
Not  in  the  least,  for  we  must  not  fail  to  see  that  if  the 
bishop,  being  the  child  of  his  time,  was  infected  with  the 
feudal  spirit  and  tried  to  secure  as  wide  a  secular 
dominion  as  possible,  his  authority  with  his  diocesans 
and  his  good  name  in  the  world  did  not  depend  on 
his  military  and  financial  resources,  but  rested,  in  the 
final  analysis,  on  immaterial  claims:  his  authority  was 
spiritual.  Thus  it  had  been  at  the  beginning  when  the 
church  was  the  bride  of  poverty,  and  thus  and  not 
otherwise  it  still  was  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 

72 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  73 

turies,  after  a  stream  of  pious  donations,  both  long  and 
deep,  and  the  grant  of  the  tithe  by  the  state  together 
with  freedom  from  taxation,  had  transformed  it  into  the 
wealthiest  corporation  of  the  age.  But  even  had  its 
riches  disappeared,  or  had  they  been  appropriated  by 
some  such  act  of  force  as  that  by  which  Siena  and  the 
other  rising  communes  deprived  their  respective  bishops 
of  political  jurisdiction,  the  life  of  the  church,  its  real 
life,  would  hardly  have  been  threatened.  For  the 
church  was  an  idea,  the  most  powerful  and  universally 
distributed  idea  of  the  Middle  Age,  and  as  long  as  that 
idea  retained  its  vigor,  any  catastrophe,  if  we  can  con- 
ceive of  such,  which  at  some  dusk  should  have  obliter- 
ated its  material  existence,  its  shrines,  its  houses,  its 
rents,  would  have  been  followed  the  next  morning  by  a 
rain  of  donations  reestablishing  it  in  its  integrity 
undiminished  by  a  jot  or  tittle.  We  call  the  mediaeval 
period  currently  the  Age  of  Faith.  There  is  much 
mistaken  information  disseminated  in  books  and  ser- 
mons about  the  quality  of  this  faith  and  the  loveliness 
of  its  works — and  of  these  misconceptions  we  shall  hear 
anon — but  the  mediaeval  period  is  the  Age  of  Faith 
unmistakably  in  the  sense  that  all  men  accepted  the 
church  as  the  divinely  appointed  instrument  of  salva- 
tion, and  believed  that  the  seven  sacraments,  adminis- 
tered by  bishop  and  clergy,  were  the  seven  converging 
roads  to  heaven.  With  such  faith  abroad,  burning  in 
every  heart,  the  church  was  indeed  founded  upon  a  rock. 
To  the  awe  and  reverence  inspired  by  the  church  on 
the  score  of  its  service  in  saving  souls,  other  elements, 
almost  from  the  first,  contributed.  When  society  went 
to  pieces  under  the  hammer-blows  of  the  Barbarians,  the 


74  SIENA 

church  alone  of  Roman  institutions  resisted  dissolu- 
tion and  became  a  rallying-point  of  the  cowed  and 
broken  population;  and  when,  in  the  course  of  time, 
men  began  again  to  take  heart  and  interest  themselves 
in  the  conduct  of  their  own  affairs,  we  have  seen  that 
it  was  the  parish  church,  the  familiar  symbol  of  the 
bond  of  neighborhood,  which  served  as  the  focus  for 
all  the  community  interests,  religious,  social,  and  polit- 
ical. As  it  was  possible  to  assert  that  the  free  commune 
with  its  consuls,  its  governing  boards,  and  its  parla- 
mentum,  represented  the  evolution  of  the  parish  meet- 
ing, so  we  may  with  the  same  assurance  affirm  that  the 
palazzo  pubblico  or  city  hall  was  the  direct  descendant 
of  the  parish  church.  And  since  the  new  city-state 
leaned  in  its  infancy  so  largely  on  the  older  and  firmer 
ecclesiastical  organization,  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised 
to  discover  that  this  early  dependence  left  its  mark  in 
the  form  of  an  enduring  intimacy  between  the  old 
associates.  Here  is  the  feature  of  the  mediaeval  period 
that  more  than  any  other  remains  incomprehensible 
to  the  modern  mind.  Church  and  state,  far  from  hold- 
ing aloof  from  each  other  and  drawing  a  definite 
trench  between  their  activities,  were  fused  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  state  concerned  itself  without  contradic- 
tion with  certain  affairs  of  the  church,  and  the  church 
without  contradiction  with  certain  affairs  of  the  state. 
In  fact  it  never  occurred  to  any  one  that  the  functions 
of  church  and  state  cojuld  be  entirely  separated,  since 
the  cooperation  of  both  was  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion  of  society.  Nevertheless,  as  the  democratiV  prinrj-, 
pies  gathered  vigor  and  the  views  of  men  concerning  the 
function  of  the  civil  power  were  enlarged  and  c|arjfip^,  wq 


The  House  of  Saint  Catherine 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  75 


may  notice  a  tendency  to  reHi^f  thp  sharp  of  the 

in  the  business  of  society,  and  to  emphasize  the  suprem- 

acy of  the"  state  over  all  the  affairs  of  its  members. 

These  views  of  a  modified  clerical  domination  were 
reflectedlrT  all  the  cppstitutions  of  the  yoijng  Italian 
republics,  and  with  no  little  force  in  the  earliest  draft 
of  the  Sienese  constitution  which  has  come  down  to  us, 
belonging  to  the  year  1262.  _  As  this  document  affords 
a  very  clear  picture  of  the  relations  of  church  and  state 
within  the  frame  of  the  commune,  we  cannot  do  better 
than  to  take  our  stand  upon  the  information  which  it 
supplies.  If  some  reader  is  tempted  to  object  that  the 
year  1262  is  a  relatively  advanced  period  in  the  evolution 
of  the  commune,  he  may  rest  assured  that  the  condition 
of  the  church  in  that  year  was  not  substantially  different 
from  what  it  had  been  during  the  previous  century,  for 
since  1186  at  the  latest  —  the  year  when  Henry  VI 
issued  his  charter  of  liberties  —  the  territories  of  the 
church  had  been  a  part  of  the  political  dominion  of  the 
city  and  the  church  itself  reduced  to  some  kind  of 
dependence  on  the  young  commonwealth.  The  Sienese 
constitution  devotes  innumerable  articles  to  the  affairs 
of  the  church  and  the  clergy,  plainly  indicating  thereby 
the  large  place  which  religion  filled  in  the  public  life  of 
the  time.*  Among  these  articles  is  a  solemn  declaration 
to  the  effect  that  Catholicism  is  the  sole  religion  of  the 
state  and  that  its  injunctions  must  be  satisfied  by  every 
citizen  of  high  or  low  degree  under  penalties  which, 
according  to  our  present  code,  are  not  only  severe  but 
even  atrocious.  The  articles  further  declare  that  the 

*"I1  Constitute  di  Siena  dell'  anno  1262."     Edited  by  Zdekauer.     See 
Distinctio  I,  "De  Fide  Catholica." 


76  SIENA 

state  will  protect  all  the  possessions  of  the  church  and 
suppport  its  enterprises,  as,  for  instance,  its  building 
operations,  with  generous  contributions;  but,  in  ex- 
change for  these  benefits,  the  document  affirms  in  reso- 
nant tones  that  the  state  expects  obedience  from  the 
church  and  its  members  in  all  matters  recognized  to  be 

o 

strictly  temporal.  Of  course  with  the  long  established 
independence  of  the  church  in  matters  spiritual  the 
state  did  not  pretend  to  interfere.  Reducing  the  varied 
information  afforded  by  the  Sienese  constitution  to 
general  terms,  we  may  assert  that,  in  spite  of  certain 
losses  which  the  church  sustained  by  being  detached 
from  the  imperial  system  and  assimilated  to  the  com- 
mune, it  remained  under  the  new  regime  a  powerful, 
self-directive  polity. 

Throughout  the  history  of  Siena  as  a  free  commune 
there  obtained,  therefore,  the  idea  of  a  partnership 
between  two  coordinated  governments,  the  one  supreme 
in  matters  temporal,  the  other  in  matters  spiritual.  A 
Sienese  citizen  as  possessed  of  membership  in  both 
gladly  paid  equal  allegiance  to  them,  and  rejoiced  in  the 
success  and  greatness  of  the  church  no  less  than  in  the 
success  and  greatness  of  the  state.  His  patriotism  took 
this  double  direction  without  any  sense  of  contradiction, 
and,  happily  for  him,  without  occasion  for  feeling  any 
contradiction  as  long  as  the  world  rested  content  in  a 
single  absorbing  and  satisfying  faith.  It  is  this  patriotic 
feeling  toward  the  church  that  explains  why,  when  the 
bishop  of  Siena  raised  a  technical  issue  with  his  neighbor 
of  Arezzo,  the  citizens  of  Siena  took  a  hand  in  the 
quarrel  and  in  that  dim  scuffle  of  the  year  711  drove  the 
Aretines  into  flight;  and  again  it  is  the  patriotism  of  the 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  77 

Sienese  which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  their  bishop 
would  not  be  silenced  by  an  endless  succession  of  royal, 
imperial,  and  papal  sentences,  but,  prompted  by  the 
pride  and  ambition  of  his  spiritual  subjects,  constantly 
renewed  his  suit. 

If  we  have  become  convinced  that  the  love  of  the 
church  among  the  mediaeval  communes  wasT  to  a  large 
extent^  a  manifestation  of  local  patriotism,  we  are 
prepared  to  understand  the  peculiarly  intimate  relation 
which  bound  the  residents  of  Siena  to  the  saints  of  their 
home.  The  saints  dwelt  indeed  in  heaven,  garmented 
in  light  and  intoning  songs  of  praise  around  the  throne, 
but  also  in  a  mysterious  way  they  were  present  in  Siena 
and  took  brotherly  cognizance  of  the  ills  of  those  who 
brought  them  gifts  and  called  upon  them  from  their 
hearts.  This  nearness  to  the  divine  powers  stirred  the 
soul  to  its  depths  and  produced  all  those  exquisite 
manifestations  of  religious  fervor  in  which  mediaeval 
Siena  abounded.  Above  all  it  produced  the  inspiring 
ceremonies,  national  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word, 
associated  with  the  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  To 
her  was  dedicated  the  cathedral,  seat  of  the  bishop;  and 
just  as  the  cathedral  bound  all  the  shrines  and  churches 
of  the  Sienese  dominion  into  a  concordant  whole,  so, 
regardless  of  parish  obligations  to  other  saints,  the 
Virgin  laid  her  mild  injunction  on  every  heart.  Her 
annual  festival  was  a  day  of  joy  and  thanksgiving, 
officially  proclaimed  by  the  state  and  celebrated  spon- 
taneously by  the  whole  population.  It  fell  on  the 
1 5th  of  August,  the  day  of  her  assumption  to  the  side  of 
her  Son.  To  evoke  that  wonderful  festival  is  not  only 
to  set  before  our  eyes  in  material  form  the  strange  fusion 


78  SIENA 

achieved  by  the  mediaeval  mind  of  the  life  terrestrial  and 
the  life  spiritual,  but  also  to  realize  one  of  those  gay  and 
colored  spectacles  for  which  the  modern  world  has  no 
equivalent,  and  which  are  like  the  moving  page  of  some 
blithe  and  exquisite  romance. 

A  general  animation  became  apparent  in  the  city  as 
the  middle  of  August  drew  near.  The  town  crier, 
sounding  his  trumpet  before  him,  passed  through  the 
streets  announcing  the  programme  for  the  festival; 
at  the  same  time  he  made  proclamation  concerning  the 
great  fair  of  three  days,*  which,  with  characteristic 
prudence  and  in  keeping  with  the  homely  character  of  the 
celebration,  the  government  did  not  hesitate  to  associate 
with  the  season  of  thanksgiving.  On  the  eve  of  the 
looked-for  day  fell  the  opening  public  act.  All  the 
citizens  from  the  age  of  eighteen  to  seventy,  forming  in 
procession  according  to  parishes  and  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  parish  priests,  marched  to  the  cathedral. 
For  the  greater  glory  of  Our  Lady  each  celebrant  carried 
in  his  hand  a  lighted  taper,  and  before  the  citizens  went 
the  magistracy,  attended  by  the  carroccio  or  car  of  state, 
upon  which  were  conspicuous  the  official  offering  of 
candle  and  banner.  Thus  before  sundown  of  August 
1 4th,  Siena  had  renewed  its  vows  to  the  goddess  of  its 
choice  and  love.  But  the  next  day  came  a  procession 
of  another  kind,  one  which  swelled  the  hearts  of  the  old 
burghers  with  patriotic  felicity.  The  castles,  villages, 
towns,  and  monasteries,  conquered  outright  or  subdued 
under  the  euphemistic  name  of  an  alliance,  knocked, 
as  it  were,  at  the  gate  of  the  city,  and  in  the  person  of 
the  proprietors  or  of  elected  delegates  proceeded  in 

*"I1  Constitute  di  Siena  dell'  anno  1262,"  I,  195. 


79 


solemn  state  to  the  duomo  to  repeat  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  victorious  commune.  A  scene  more 
splendid  and,  at  the  same  time,  more  feudal  cannot  be 
imagined.  The  free  town  was  a  perpetual  protest 
against  the  feudal  system,  but  when  the  problem  pre- 
sented itself  as  to  how  the  shattered  elements  of  feudal- 
ism were  to  be  organized  under  the  new  sovereignty, 
the  city  leaders  chose  a  solution  which  proved  that  they 
could  not  emancipate  themselves  from  the  domination 
of  current  legal  forms.  They  simply  assumed  toward 
the  nobles  and  corporations  of  the  county  the  familiar 
position  of  suzerain.  The  morning  of  the  fifteenth, 
therefore,  saw  the  procession  of  Sienese  vassals  march 
to  perform  an  annual  act  of  homage.  In  that  procession 
were  the  proud  descendants  of  the  ancient  counts  of 
the  city,  mitred  abbots  or  their  mandataries,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  villages  and  towns;  and  in  their  hands 
they  bore,  in  honor  of  the  Virgin,  each  one  a  lighted 
candle.  Through  dense  and  exultant  crowds  they  made 
their  way  up  the  marble  steps  of  the  cathedral  until  they 
stood  within  the  portal,  before  the  desk  of  a  secretary 
of  the  commune.  To  the  humble  scrivener,  seated 
before  a  solemn  ledger,  they  consigned  their  offerings, 
all  destined  for  the  service  of  the  Supreme  Lady  and 
consisting  of  candle-wax,  or  banners  of  brocade,  or 
money,  according  to  the  articles  of  submission.* 

Meanwhile  the  fair  had  begun  in  the  great  central 
square  called  the  Campo,  at  first  merely  an  ordinary, 
undistinguished,  provincial  piazza,  but  gradually  trans- 


*  See  for  the  official  order  of  the  day,  "II  Constitute  di  Siena  dell"  anno 
1262,"  Distinctio  V,  36,  37.  Also,  Toti,  "Atti  di  votazione  della  cittk  di 
Siena,"  pp.  10-16. 


80  SIENA 

formed  by  the  erection  of  public  and  private  buildings 
into  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  unique  squares 
of  Italy.  Wooden  booths  in  rows  filled  the  wide  space  and 
their  displays  of  delicates,  oriental  spices,  armor,  and 
goods  of  all  kinds  were  intended  to  attract  not  only  the 
peasants  of  the  neighborhood  but  also  foreign  traders 
from  Arezzo,  Florence,  and  more  distant  parts.  Mimes, 
acrobats,  and  musicians,  the  whole  tribe  of  bohemians 
embraced  under  the  more  or  less  opprobrious  epithet 
of  homines  curtis,  flooded  the  city,  reciting  ballads, 
turning  somersaults,  and  engaging  in  merry-making, 
each  after  his  kind.  To  satisfy  a  very  prevalent  taste 
the  government  even  authorized  the  erection  of  a  gam- 
bling booth,  around  which,  according  to  abundant 
evidence,  always  pressed  an  eager  throng.  At  the  same 
time  the  bells  rang  to  worship,  and  into  the  open  churches 
poured  great  crowds,  drawn  as  much  by  the  desire  to 
see  the  flaming  candles  and  decorations  of  the  altar  as 
to  make  offer  to  heaven  of  a  contrite  heart.  Through- 
out the  day  the  Virgin  and  the  host  of  saints  were 
conceived  to  hover  close  at  hand,  almost  within  reach 
of  ear  and  eye,  pleased  with  all  the  ways  of  their  people. 
Thus  on  the  I5th  of  August  Siena  mixed  heaven  and 
earth,  achieving  a  national  holiday  that  had  all  the 
elements  of  joy,  sincerity,  and  poetry. 

This  festival,  repeated  year  after  year  and  rousing 
with  each  return  the  emotions  of  an  excitable  people 
to  a  state  of  religious  exaltation,  led  at  last  to  one  of  the 
most  moving  and  picturesque  episodes  of  the  Italian 
Middle  Age.  It  was  the  year  1260.  The  Florentines, 
supported  by  almost  all  the  other  towns  of  Tuscany,  had 
acquired  the  upper  hand  in  the  province,  and  now  led 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  81 

an  army  against  Siena,  wounded  and  at  bay,  to  deliver 
the  death  blow.  We  shall  have  much  to  say  of  that 
memorable  campaign  when  we  take  up  the  many  wars 
between  the  two  neighboring  cities.  Here  I  wish  merely 
to  detach  from  the  struggle  a  wonderful,  culminating 
episode  in  the  worship  of  Mary.  We  have  seen  how 
that  worship  lay  imbedded  in  the  mystic  longings,  as 
well  as  in  the  daily  thoughts  and  cares  of  the  whole 
population.  It  sank  roots  which  drank  at  the  well  of 
tears.  Love  of  home,  yearning  for  heaven,  right  living 
and  forgiveness — the  name  of  Mary  signified  all  that. 
And  now  the  Florentines  were  at  the  gate  and  the  day 
of  doom  seemed  at  hand.  Is  it  wonderful  that  this 
people,  thoroughly  convinced  of  the  power  of  their 
patroness  to  save  as  well  as  to  destroy,  should  have  given 
themselves  into  her  hands  utterly  and  without  reserve  ? 
An  old  chronicle  *  records  the  story  in  words  of  which 
no  translation,  be  it  regretfully  confessed,  can  render  the 
subtle  flavor.  After  telling  us  how  in  their  black  hour 
the  city  council  made  one  of  their  number,  the  excellent 
Buonaguida  Lucari,  head  or  syndic,  it  proceeds: 

"And  whilst  this  election  was  in  progress,  our  spiritual  father, 
my  lord  the  bishop,  caused  the  bell  to  ring  to  summon  his  clergy. 
And  he  made  to  come  together  all  the  clergy  of  Siena,  priests,  and 
canons,  and  friars,  and  all  the  religious,  to  the  duomo,  and  being 

*  This  famous  chronicle  exists  in  several  MSS.  of  the  first  half  of  the  fif- 
teenth century.  It  is  generally  held  that  they  are  all  transcriptions  or 
versions  of  a  much  earlier  original.  The  Sienese  antiquary,  Porri,  has  earned 
our  gratitude  by  publishing  one  of  the  manuscripts  in  his  "Miscellanea 
Storica  Senese,"  1844,  under  the  title,  "La  Sconfitta  di  Montaperti,  secondo 
il  MS.  di  Niccolo  di  Giovanni  di  Francesco  Ventura."  The  above  vigorous 
and  skilful  translation  is  from  the  "History  of  Siena"  of  Langton  Douglas, 
p.  84  ff.  Mr.  Douglas,  in  addition  to  Porri,  has  made  use  of  an  unpublished 
MS.  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  of  Milan. 


82  SIENA 

assembled  there  he  made  a  short  sermon  to  them,  admonishing 
them  and  comforting  them,  and  bidding  them  pray  to  God  and  His 
Most  Holy  Mother,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  to  all  the  saints  ...  for 
the  people  of  the  city;  .  .  .  that  as  he  had  spared  the  city  of 
Nineveh  because  of  its  fasting  and  repentance,  so  it  would  please 
Him  to  free  Siena  from  the  fury  and  pride  of  these  knaves  of  Floren- 
tines. And  so  he  ordained  that  every  one  should  make  bare  his 
feet,  and  should  go  devoutly  in  procession  through  the  duomo, 
singing  with  a  loud  voice  and  invoking  ceaselessly  the  pity  of  God. 

"And  whilst  my  lord  the  bishop  with  all  the  religious  and  clergy 
were  thus  going  in  procession  singing  their  litanies  and  prayers, 
God  did  put  it  into  the  mind  of  the  syndic,  that  is  to  say  of  Buona- 
guida  Lucari,  to  rise,  and  say  in  a  voice  so  loud  that  he  was  heard 
by  the  citizens  who  were  outside  the  church  in  the  piazza  of  S. 
Cristofano:  !My  lords  of  Siena,  and  my  dear  fellow  citizens,  we 
have  already  commended  ourselves  to  King  Manfred,  now  it 
appears  to  me,  that  we  ought  in  all  sincerity  to  give  ourselves,  our 
goods  and  our  persons,  the  city  and  the  contado,  to  the  Queen  of 
life  eternal,  that  is  to  say,  to  our  Lady  Mother,  the  Virgin  Mary. 
To  make  this  offering,  let  it  be  your  pleasure  to  bear  me  company.' 

"And  no  sooner  had  he  said  these  words  than  this  Buonaguida 
stripped  himself  to  his  shirt.  And,  being  barefooted  and  bare- 
headed, he  took  his  leathern  girdle  and  fastened  it  round  his  neck 
with  a  slip-knot.  And  in  this  guise,  at  the  head  of  the  procession 
of  the  citizens,  he  set  out  towards  the  duomo.  And  behind  him 
went  all  the  people;  and  whomsoever  they  met  by  the  way  went 
with  them,  each  man  being  shoeless  and  without  cloak  or  hat.  .  .  . 
And  as  they  went  they  ceased  not  to  cry  'Mary  Virgin,  succor  us 
in  our  great  need,  and  deliver  us  out  of  the  claws  of  these  lions, 
and  from  these  haughty  men  who  seek  to  devour  us.'  And  all 
the  people  prayed,  'Oh,  Madonna,  most  holy  Queen  of  Heaven, 
we  miserable  sinners  entreat  your  mercy.' 

"And  upon  their  arrival  at  the  duomo,  my  lord  the  bishop  was 
going  in  procession  through  the  church,  and  was  at  that  moment 
at  the  high  altar,  before  our  gracious  Lady,  the  Virgin  Mary. 
And  he  began  to  sing  the  '  Te  Deum  Laudamus '  in  a  loud  voice. 

"It  was  just  then  that  the  people  reached  the  door  of  the  church, 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  83 

and  commenced  to  cryout'Misericordia,  Misericordia!'  with  many 
tears.  At  that  plaint  so  dolorous  and  piteous,  my  lord  the  bishop 
and  all  the  clergy  turned  round,  and  went  to  meet  Buonaguida. 
And  when  they  were  come  together,  all  kneeled  down,  and  Buona- 
guida prostrated  himself  to  the  earth.  Whereupon  my  lord  the 
bishop  raised  him  up  and  gave  him  the  kiss  of  peace.  And  then 
all  the  citizens  went  one  to  another  and  kissed  one  another  on 
the  mouth.  And  this  was  done  at  the  entering  to  the  choir  of 
the  duomo. 

"And  taking  one  another  by  the  hand,  my  lord  the  bishop  and 
Buonaguida  went  up  to  the  altar  of  our  Mother,  the  Virgin  Mary, 
and  there  they  kneeled  down  with  great  lamentation  and  bitter 
tears.  And  this  venerable  citizen,  Buonaguida,  lay  all  prostrate 
on  the  ground,  and  so  did  all  the  people,  with  much  weeping  and 
many  sighs.  And  so  they  remained  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
Then  Buonaguida  raised  himself  to  his  feet  in  front  of  our  Mother, 
the  Virgin  Mary,  and  uttered  many  wise  and  prudent  words. 
And  amongst  others  he  spake  these  following:  'Oh,  Virgin, 
glorious  Queen  of  Heaven,  Mother  of  sinners!  I,  a  wretched 
sinner,  give,  grant,  and  yield  to  thee,  this  city  and  contado  of 
Siena,  and  I  pray  thee,  sweetest  Mother,  that  it  may  please  thee 
to  accept  it,  notwithstanding  our  great  frailty  and  our  many  sins. 
Regard  not  our  offences,  but  guard,  defend,  and  deliver  us,  I  be- 
seech thee,  from  the  hands  of  these  perfidious  dogs  of  Florentines, 
and  from  whomsoever  may  wish  to  oppress,  to  harass,  or  to  ruin  us.' 

"These  words  having  been  said,  my  lord  the  bishop  went  up 
into  the  pulpit  and  preached  a  very  beautiful  sermon,  admonishing 
the  people  with  good  examples,  and  praying  and  commanding  them 
to  embrace  one  another,  and  to  forgive  one  another  all  trespasses, 
to  confess  and  to  communicate.  .  .  .  And  he  charged  them  that 
they  should  go  with  him  and  with  all  the  clergy  and  religious  in 
procession. 

"And  in  this  procession  before  all  the  rest  went  that  carved 
crucifix  which  is  in  the  duomo,  and  immediately  after  it  followed 
many  clergy.  Then  came  a  red  standard,  behind  which  walked 
my  lord  the  bishop.  He  was  barefoot,  and  by  his  side  was 
Buonaguida  in  his  shirt,  with  his  girdle  around  his  neck.  Then 


84  SIENA 

followed  all  the  canons  of  the  cathedral,  all  without  shoes  and 
bareheaded,  and  as  they  went  they  sang  psalms  and  hymns  very 
devoutly.  After  them  passed  along  all  the  women,  shoeless  and 
bareheaded,  and  a  part  of  them  with  hair  dishevelled,  ever  com- 
mending themselves  to  God  and  to  the  most  holy  Mother,  the 
Virgin  Mary.  And  so  they  went  in  procession  to  S.  Cristofano, 
and  into  the  Campo,  and  returned  to  the  duomo.  And  they 
commenced  to  make  peace  one  with  another.  And  he  that  had 
received  the  greatest  injury  went  to  seek  out  his  brother  to  make 
peace  with  him,  and  to  pardon  him,  and  to  kiss  him.  And  soon 
concord  was  made.  ..." 

Which  befell  on  the  zd  of  September,  1260;  and  the 
next  day  the  Sienese  marched  out  of  the  city  with  un- 
furled banners  and  in  the  furious  battle  of  Montaperti 
swept  the  Florentines  off  the  field  like  chaff.  Seeing 
that  their  exaltation  gave  them  irresistible  strength 
they  were  not  far  wrong  in  ascribing  their  victory  to 
the  Virgin.  More  than  ever  Siena  was  henceforth  her 
city,  the  Sienese  her  sons.  That  presentation  of  the 
keys  in  the  duomo  was  an  act  unconsciously  moulded 
by  the  prevailing  feudal  ideas.  By  virtue  of  it  Queen 
Mary  became  sovereign  and  liege,  ruling  amcena  Sena 
as  her  earthly  fief.  The  very  coins  henceforth  recounted 
the  new  glory,  for  from  the  time  of  the  dedication  they 
appeared,  bearing  in  addition  to  the  ancient  legend, 
Sena  Vetus,  the  proud  words,  Civitas  Virginis. 

The  gate  out  of  which  the  Sienese  marched  to  strike 
the  enemy  opened  upon  the  country  to  the  east,  and  was 
and  is  still  called  Porta  Santo  Viene  (The  Saint  Comes). 
And  thereby  hangs  the  tale  of  another  procession  which 
deserves  a  word  in  this  record  of  the  cordial  relation  of  a 
mediaeval  people  and  its  saints.  Older  than  Monta- 
perti by  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  the  story  introduces 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  85 

us  once  more  to  the  Sienese  protomartyr,  Sant'  Ansano, 
and  to  the  church  at  Dofana,  which  possessed  his  body 
and  had  from  the  early  eighth  century  been  the  occasion 
of  furious  litigation  between  the  bishops  of  Arezzo  and 
Siena.  In  the  year  1108  the  body  of  the  saint,  a  price- 
less relic,  which  had  lain  undisturbed  for  eight  hundred 
years,  was  exhumed.  The  bishop  of  Arezzo  and  his 
followers,  full  of  distrust  against  their  neighbors,  were 
for  carrying  it  away  with  them,  but  yielding  either  to 
reason  or  to  force,  agreed  to  a  division.*  Accordingly 
the  head  was  apportioned  to  Arezzo,  the  trunk  to  Siena. 
On  February  6,  1108,  occurred  a  remarkable  scene.f 
The  Sienese  clergy  accompanied  by  many  people  went 
to  Dofana  to  bring  back  the  martyred  saint,  now  a  heap 
of  dust  without  a  skull,  to  the  city  which  he  had  given 
his  life  to  save.  As  the  procession,  moving  to  the 
accompaniment  of  solemn  chants,  drew  near  the  gate 
the  waiting  people  rushed  forth  unable  to  restrain  their 
jubilation.  Cries  of  "//  santo  viene!  II  santo  viene!' 
rent  the  air,  and  from  that  day  the  gate  by  which 
Ansano  had  gone  forth  to  death  and  had  returned 
triumphant,  after  biding  his  time  for  eight  centuries, 
has  been  called  from  the  auspicious  event.J 

*  A  spirited  account,  contemporary  or  almost  contemporary,  and  curiously 
distorted  by  Sienese  bias,  may  be  found  in  Pecci,  "Storia  del  Vescovado  di 
Siena,"  p.  145  /. 

t  Date  and  fact  supplied  by  "Annales  Senenses,"  Monumenta  Ger.  Hist., 
Scriptores,  XIX. 

J  The  Porta  Santo  Viene  is  now  interchangably  called  Porta  dei  Pispini  from 
the  name  of  a  neighboring  fountain.  In  connection  with  the  older  name  I 
may  note  that  doubt  has  recently  been  thrown,  not  on  the  above  procession, 
which  is  an  indisputable  fact,  nor  on  the  name  of  the  gate,  which  is  no  less 
certain,  but  on  the  origin  of  that  name.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  Santo 
Viene  may  be  a  popular  corruption  of  Sant'  Eugenio,  a  monastery  close  by, 
from  which  the  gate  in  remote  days  may  conceivably  have  been  named. 
See  Bargagli-Petrucci,  "Le  Fonti  di  Siena,"  I,  p.  31.0. 


86  SIENA 

But  to  return  to  the  proffer  of  the  city,  to  the  Virgin 
on  that  dark  September  day  when  the  army  of  the 
Florentines  lay  outside  the  city.  The  reader  will 
recall  that  the  procession  of  citizens,  chanting  and  crying 
mercy,  wound  from  the  duomo  to  S.  Cristofano  and 
back  again.  The  duomo  was  on  the  southern  hill  of 
the  city,  while  the  church  of  San  Cristofano  lay  to  the 
north  on  the  way  to  Porta  Camellia.  Note  these  two 
terminals,  for  they  are  an  affirmation  of  the  dependence 
of  the  young  state  upon  the  church,  a  dependence 
which  must  have  been  great  indeed,  since  Siena,  al- 
though by  the  year  1260  a  commonwealth  of  consider- 
able importance  and  long  past  the  period  of  apprentice- 
ship, did  not  yet  have  a  separate  edifice  to  house  her 
civil  government.  True,  the  first  steps  looking  to  the 
creation  of  permanent  municipal  offices  had  been  taken, 
for  we  hear  of  a  mint  and  a  general  salt-store  existing 
on  the  Campo,  but  the  potesta  still  had  his  private 
residence  in  some  house  which  he  rented  from  a  citizen, 
and  conducted  court  in  the  church  -of  San  Pellegrino. 
In  San  Pellegrino,  too,  were  installed  the  administrative 
offices  of  the  commune,  known  as  La  Biccherna,  while 
the  city  council,  called  the  Council  of  the  Bell,  came 
together  in  the  church  of  San  Cristofano.  In  1260  this 

O 

last  edifice  fulfilled  in  some  sort  the  functions  of  a  city 
hall.  That  is  the  reason  why  the  penitential  procession, 
making  the  round  of  the  city,  swung  between  it  and  the 
cathedral.  The  great  palazzo  pubblico,  which  in  our 
own  days  dominates  the  central  piazza  and  constitutes 
the  chief  monument  of  Sienese  civic  pride,  was  not  begun 
till  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  So  long  did  it 
take  for  the  mediaeval  mind  to  learn  to  differentiate 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  87 

between  civil  and  ecclesiastical  functions  and  to  recog- 
nize the  necessity  of  an  entirely  separate  physical 
organism  for  the  state !  Again  I  may  point  out  that  we 
must  always  keep  present  before  us  the  essential 
crudity  of  the  society  of  this  early  republican  period  and 
its  total  unfamiliarity  with  that  political  theory  and 
practice  which  give  our  proceedings  so  much  more 
precision  and  firmness.  Nothing  is  so  certain  as  that 
the  town  government,  in  process  of  slow  formation  for 
hundreds  of  years,  took  each  forward  step  only  under 
the  pressure  of  the  new  practical  necessities  attending 
the  commercial  expansion  of  the  city.  Therefore  the 
churches,  being  the  only  spacious  edifices  which  a 
mediaeval  city  boasted,  were  quite  good  enough  for 
secular  matters  until  the  accumulation  of  business  and 
the  more  elaborate  organization  of  the  government 
demanded  offices  of  special  construction. 

The  Sienese  church,  such  as  we  have  found  it,  was 
undoubtedly  alert  and  vigorous  with  red  blood  coursing 
in  its  veins.  In  spite  of  abuses  which  cropped  up  from 
time  to  time,  it  maintained  an  effective  organization  of 
parishes  and  baptisteries,  by  which  its  spiritual  comfort 
was  made  accessible  to  the  poorest  beggar  of  the  town 
and  to  the  lowliest  charcoal  burner  of  the  mountains. 
But  it  could  not,  even  when  served  by  a  devoted  priest- 
hood, satisfy  the  extraordinary  religious  fervor  of  the 
Middle  Age.  Everywhere  in  Europe  the  passion  for 
sanctity  gave  birth  to  a  special  institution,  by  means  of 
which  men,  withdrawing  from  the  world  and  its  lusts, 
could  surrender  themselves  to  a  life  of  prayer  and 
meditation.  As  early  as  the  Apostolic  Age  an  element 
ofOriental  asceticism  appeared  in  the  Christian  religion, 


88  SIENA 

and  in  the  course  of  time  this  element  created  a  suitable 
expression  of  its  ideal  in  the  monastery. 

Naturally  the  monastic  fervor  did  not  fail  to  reach 
Siena,  over  whose  territory  it  deposited  its  monuments 
with  a  lavish  hand.  Leaning  from  the  rampart  outside 
the  gate  of  San  Marco  a  large  red  mass  rises  into  view. 
It  is  the  monastery  of  Sant'  Eugenio,  called  by  the 
Sienese  with  a  pleasant  familiarity  //  Monistero,  as  if 
it  were  the  only  one  of  its  kind.  It  was  secularized  in 
the  eighteenth  century  when,  after  a  thousand  years  of 
not  unhonorable  service,  the  ample  cloisters  and 
dormitories  were  turned  without  objectionable  altera- 
tions into  a  country  residence.  II  Monistero  is  the  first 
monastic  foundation  of  this  neighborhood,  owing  its 
existence  to  a  pious  gift  made  in  the  year  730  by  a 
Lombard  gastald — Magnificus  Warnefnd  Gastaldius 
Civitatis  Senensis.*  The  monks  under  their  abbot 
governed  themselves  by  the  Benedictine  rule,  the  usual 
constitution  adopted  by  all  early  monasteries.  South 
of  II  Monistero,  some  twenty  miles  as  the  crow  flies,  and 
not  far  from  Montalcino,  may  still  be  seen  the  fine  ruin 
of  a  church  marking  the  site  of  another  Benedictine 
foundation,  the  abbey  of  Sant'  Antimo.  Its  origin,  too, 
falls  probably  in  the  eighth  century,  for,  by  the  ninth, 
it  was  well-to-do  and  had  acquired  ample  immunities 
from  the  emperors.  Still  it  was  overshadowed  in 
importance  by  the  great  Benedictine  house  of  San  Salva- 
tore,  which  stood  on  the  slopes  of  Monte  Amiata,  and 
which  constituted  one  of  the  greatest  feudal  patrimonies 
of  all  Italy.  San  Salvatore,  likewise,  dates  from  that 

*  The  interesting  deed  was  published  by  Pecci,  "Storia  del  Vescovado  di 
Siena,"  p.  44. 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH 


age  of  monastic  fervor,  the  eighth  century,  received 
gifts  from  many  noblemen,  coaxed  immunities  from 
emperors  and  popes,  quarrelled  constantly  with  its 
greedy  and  powerful  neighbors,  the  family  of  the  Aldo- 
brandeschi,  declined,  was  plundered,  and  rose  again — 
what  a  story  if  our  day  had  leisure  to  write  and  read 
such  tales!  Such  are  some  of  the  oldest  monastic 
foundations  of  the  neighborhood  of  Siena.  That  they 
have  been  permitted  to  decay  or  been  quietly  surren- 
dered to  unhallowed  uses  sufficiently  defines  the  attitude 
of  our  time  to  the  ascetic  ideal  of  the  Middle  Age,  but 
should  not  hinder  us  from  doing  justice  to  the  period 
when  their  abbots  owned  rich  estates  and  enjoyed  equal 
consideration  in  the  land  with  the  great  barons. 

The  foundations  I  have  named  are  of  a  very  venerable 
antiquity,  owing  their  rise  to  the  first  great  wave  of 
monastic  enthusiasm  which  passed  over  Europe.  No 
sooner  had  the  force  of  the  first  wave  spent  itself  than 
it  was  followed  by  another  and  still  another;  in  fact, 
monastic  revivals  were  a  common  phenomenon  of  a 
period  which  conceived  them  to  be  the  highest  expres- 
sion of  its  faith.  Numerous  were  the  foundations  by 
which  Siena  marked  its  participation  in  all  these  move- 
ments. At  the  height  of  her  power  scores  of  greater  and 
smaller  homes  dotted  her  territory  within  and  without 
her  walls.*  I  can  do  no  more  here  than  add  to  the 
list  of  original  settlements  the  names  of  some  of  the  more 
famous  and  enduring  establishments  of  the  later  periods. 
In  the  valley  of  the  Merse  may  still  be  seen  the  wonder- 

*  For  a  partial  list  of  such  places,  mostly  vanished  and  forgotten,  see  the 
"  Constituto  dell'  anno  1262,"  Distinctio  I.  Falletti-Fossati  in  his  "Costumi 
Senesi,"  p.  115,  reckons  that  in  1310  there  were  twenty-eight  convents  within 
the  city  alone,  with  over  six  hundred  inmates. 


90  SIENA 

ful  ruin  of  the  abbey  of  San  Galgano,  founded  in  the 
twelfth  century  in  the  days  of  the  Cistercian  reform. 
Outside  the  gate  of  Fonte  Branda,  in  the  deep  solitude 
of  one  of  the  few  magnificent  forests  which  still  adorn 
modern  Italy,  lies  the  Augustinian  monastery  of  Lec- 
ceto;  and  at  the  opposite  point  of  the  compass,  to  the 
east  of  the  town,  lies,  not  buried  in  an  enchanted  wood, 
but  high  on  a  summit,  commanding  a  wide  view  over 
rolling  hills  and  valleys,  the  Certosa  of  Pontignano.  In 
the  naves  and  cloisters  of  San  Galgano,  Lecceto,  and 
Pontignano  the  footsteps  of  the  monks  have  long  since 
ceased  to  sound,  but,  though  fallen  from  their  estate,  they 
still  speak  with  the  compelling  power  of  beauty  of  a  time 
which  entertained  other  hopes  than  ours  and  dreamed 
other  dreams. 

Within  the  city  proper  the  monastic  wave  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  which  was  the  most  fervid  of  all  and 
which  directed  its  energy  particularly  upon  the  towns, 
could  not  but  have  a  large  effect.  I  am  speaking  of  the 
movement  named  of  the  begging  friars  and  associated 
with  the  two  towering  figures  of  St.  Francis  and  St. 
Dominic.  Missionaries  and  brothers  of  these  two 
orders  got  a  foothold  very  early  in  Siena  and,  favored 
by  the  piety  of  the  citizens,  began  the  creation  of  those 
two  edifices  which,  not  without  additions  and  changes 
imposed  by  the  succeeding  generations,  still  dominate 
respectively  the  east  and  west  hills  of  the  town. 

But  Siena  boasts  a  nobler  product  of  the  Christian 
spirit  than  its  many  monasteries  of  the  city  and  contado, 
nobler  because  sprung  from  a  more  unselfish  desire  to 
render  service  to  mankind.  I  am  referring  to  the  fa- 
mous hospital,  which,  erected  opposite  the  cathedral 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  91 

steps  and  called  from  that  circumstance  Santa  Maria 
della  Scala,  still  flourishes,  accumulating  new  vigor  with 
each  century  and  multiplying  its  benefactions  to  the 
poor  and  heavy  laden.  Such  an  institution,  keeping 
pace  with  advancing  time,  reaffirms  our  faith  in  the 
enduring  power  of  the  Christian  ideal. 

Santa  Maria  della  Scala,  recognized  in  the  days  of 
the  Italian  republics  as  the  greatest  hospital  of  Tuscany, 
grew  from  a  small  seed,  being  in  its  origin  nothing 
but  a  house  of  rest  for  pilgrims.  Its  founders  were  the 
canons  of  the  cathedral  church,  whose  bounties  enabled 
it  to  take  shape,  probably  in  the  eleventh  century,  for 
the  first  documentary  reference  to  it  is  of  the  year 
1090.*  Its  scope  was  soon  extended,  till  it  embraced 
many  forms  of  charity,  and  constituted,  besides  satis- 
fying its  original  function,  a  hospital  in  our  modern  sense, 
a  home  for  foundlings,  an  orphan  asylum,  and  a  poor 
house.f  The  service  of  the  institution  was  performed 
by  a  company  of  volunteers,  men  and  women,  who  took 
no  religious  vows,  but  wore  a  special  garment  with  the 
insignia  of  the  hospital  and  regarded  themselves  as  a  lay 
brotherhood  under  rules  framed  and  voted  by  them- 
selves. These  rules,  enforcing  a  very  rigorous  discipline 
inspired  by  the  monastic  ideal,  have  been  luckily  pre- 
served for  us  in  several  redactions.  J  Besides  giving  the 


*  See  Banchi,    "Statuti  Senesi,"  Vol.  Ill,  Introduzione,  p.  7. 

f  Of  the  scale  on  which  the  hospital  was  established  in  all  its  services,  the 
following  inscription,  touching  the  waifs  of  the  year  1298  and  still  legible  on 
the  wall  toward  the  piazza  del  duomo,  gives  a  graphic  impression:  Hec 
domus  facta  est  pro  gittatellis  in  anno  domini  M.CC.LXXXXVIII  in  quo 
tempore  sunt  in  numero  CCC.  gitetelli  et  plus. 

t  The  earliest  redaction,  of  the  year  1305,  has  been  published  by  L.  Banchi, 
"Statuti  Volgari  de  lo  Spedale  di  S.  Maria  Vergine  di  Siena  scritti  1'anno 
MCCCV." 


92  SIENA 

conditions  under  which  the  brothers  and  sisters  were 
received,  and  precisely  regulating  such  matters  as 
prayer,  food,  and  drink,  they  inform  us  that  the  com- 
pany was  governed  by  a  rector,  elected  in  a  general 
session.  This  privilege  of  naming  their  own  ruler  the 
brothers  had  not  obtained  without  a  struggle.  In  fact, 
almost  from  the  first  they  were  involved  in  a  severe 
quarrel  over  the  control  of  the  institution  with  their 
patrons,  the  canons  of  the  cathedral.  Laymen  though 
they  were,  and,  therefore,  in  that  age  an  inferior  social 
order,  they  had  seen  the  property  of  the  hospital  grow 
by  the  free  gifts  of  themselves  and  their  fellow-citizens, 
and  chafed  at  the  leading-strings  of  their  superiors. 
The  conflict  was  at  last  carried  to  the  highest  ecclesias- 
tical tribunal,  to  the  pope  at  Rome,  and  by  sentence  of 
the  year  1194,*  the  brothers  were  practically  freed  from 
canonical  interference.  Henceforth  the  great  hospital 
of  Santa  Maria  della  Scala  was  in  all  respects  a  lay 
institution,  operated  by  the  brothers  and  enjoying  the 
official  support  of  the  state,  an  expressive  witness  of  the 
successful  and  inevitable  emancipation  of  society  from 
the  church.f 

The  Catholic  church,  which  in  the  Dark  Age,  fol- 
lowing the  invasions,  held  disorganized  society  together 
by  means  of  its  parish  organization,  which  served  as  a 

*Muratori,  "Antiq  It.,"  IV.,  585. 

f  To  the  above  brief  historical  account  there  is  a  curious  legendary  corol- 
lary. We  are  told  that  legends  have  a  valuable  historical  kernel;  that  may 
be  true  in  general,  but  the  story  recounted  admirably  by  Banchi  ("Statuti 
Senesi,"  Vol.  Ill,  Introduzione,  17-28)  of  how  the  brothers  of  the  hospital, 
needing  a  saint  and  founder,  discovered,  or  rather  literally  manufactured  one, 
proves  that  some  legends,  at  least,  are  cut  out  of  whole  cloth.  The  hospital 
was  founded,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  canons.  The  brothers,  hostile  to  the 
canons,  would  have  preferred  a  lay  origin.  A  wish  warmly  entertained  is 
readily  converted  into  a  fact.  The  brothers  spread  the  news — not  till  the 


THE  SIENESE  CHURCH  93 

staff  to  the  young  republics  in  the  days  of  their  youth, 
which  fostered  the  spirit  revealed  in  the  monasteries 
of  city  and  country  and  in  such  institutions  of  charity 
as  the  hospital  of  Santa  Maria  della  Scala,  was  in  the 
main  a  vast  power  for  good.  And  yet  it  was  constantly 
threatened  with  the  sloth  and  corruption  attending 
success.  The  inheritor  of  wealth  and  a  secured  position 
is  always  in  danger  of  falling  asleep,  like  the  giant 
Fafner,  over  his  treasure,  to  grumble  like  him  when 
forcibly  aroused:  "ich  lieg'  und  besitze;  lass  mich 
schlafen."  Out  of  this  indolence  the  church  had  to 
be  shaken  at  frequent  intervals  by  the  elemental  force 
of  a  popular  revival.  I  have  spoken  of  the  many 
monastic  movements,  each  of  which  earnestly  tried  to 
bring  to  the  front  the  ascetic  aspect  of  the  Christian 
ideal.  Much  wilder  agitations  than  these,  originating 
generally  in  a  protest  against  the  hollowness  of  official 
forms  of  worship  and  ending  in  religious  ecstasy,  at- 
tended the  evolution  of  society  throughout  the  Middle 
Age.  Every  student  of  religion  has  heard  of  the  flagel- 
lants, bands  of  whom,  stripped  to  the  skin  and  lashing 
their  macerated  bodies,  passed  again  and  again  up  and 
down  the  highways  of  the  peninsula,  chanting  songs 
strange  and  terrible  as  the  howling  of  eastern  dervishes. 
If  the  church  was  inclined  to  resent  all  demands  for 


fourteenth  century — of  a  pious  cobbler,  who  began  the  hospital  enterprise 
from  his  own  means  hundreds  of  years  before;  presently  they  named  him 
Sutore  or  Sorore  (Latin  sutor — cobbler);  in  the  course  of  another  generation 
they  found  his  body,  miraculously  preserved  dinanzi  I'altare  de'Pizzicaioli 
(A.  D.  1492);  and,  finally,  the  whole  amusing  fabrication  had  an  official 
stamp  set  on  it  by  one  of  those  lying  lives  of  the  saints  put  forth  with  bare- 
faced impudence  in  that  unloveliest  period  of  Italian  history,  the  Counter- 
Reformation.  Since  then  for  the  good  popolano  of  Siena  the  fame  of  the 
cobbler,  Sorore,  rests  upon  a  foundation  of  stone. 


94  SIENA 

change  raised  by  unofficial  bodies,  as  constituting  an 
interference  with  its  authority  and  a  threat  against  its 
peace,  it  generally  took  the  wise  course  toward  all  these 
movements  of  letting  them  alone.  The  hysterical  ones 
would  soon  spend  their  force  and  perish;  the  more 
durable  might,  with  a  little  manipulation,  be  adopted 
and  dominated.  To  the  adopted  class  belong  the  move- 
ments associated  with  the  Cistercians,  Dominicans, 
Franciscans,  and  many  other  monastic  societies.  All 
these  organizations,  springing  from  religious  enthusiasm 
and  fed  in  part,  at  least,  by  the  popular  indignation 
against  the  vices  and  human  insufficiencies  of  the  clergy, 
were  thus  comfortably  fitted  into  Rome's  elastic  system. 
All  this  can  leave  no  room  for  doubt  that,  by  the  side 
of  the  established  service  of  the  Lord  and  His  saints, 
solemnly  conducted  by  the  church  and  supplemented 
by  the  monasteries,  there  existed  in  the  Middle  Age  an 
intense  personal  search  for  the  fruits  of  the  spirit,  the 
continuation  of  the  original  evangelical  passion.  Some 
of  the  most  exquisite  as  well  as  some  of  the  most  fero- 
cious phenomena  of  the  religious  activity  of  the  period 
are  the  outflow  of  this  individual  attitude  toward  the 
problems  of  the  life  eternal.  Among  all  the  republics 
of  Italy  none  was  more  rich  in  representatives  of 
personal  sanctity  than  Siena.  Pier  Pettignano,  Saint 
Catherine,  San  Bernardino — these  are  only  the  more 
prominent  names  in  the  list  of  her  impassioned  vision- 
aries. To  the  variety  of  religious  experience  for  which 
they  stand  I  shall  give  attention  in  another  place,  con- 
vinced that  no  other  study  will  bring  us  nearer  to  the 
heart  of  this  fascinating  people. 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  BURGHERS 

THE  past  contains  the  record  of  many  cities  whose 
mere  name  suffices  to  set  our  imagination  on 
fire.  Athens,  Rome,  Venice,  Florence — all  these 
gave  birth  to  a  wonderful  civilization,  which  survived 
their  political  power,  long  since  crumbled  to  dust,  and 
of  which  the  succeeding  generations  of  men  have  been 
the  often  unmindful  beneficiaries.  With  regard  to  one 
and  all  of  these  cities  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  recall  to 
the  reader  that  their  immortal  achievements  in  the  arts 
rested  upon  a  solid  material  basis,  created  by  the  fruitful 
and  closely  interwoven  activities  of  a  busy  population  of 
peasants,  artisans,  and  merchants.  Whoever,  there- 
fore, would  penetrate  to  the  sources  of  the  culture  of  the 
Athenians,  the  Romans,  the  Venetians,  and  the  Floren- 
tines must  seek  to  inform  himself  in  each  case  about  such 
fundamental  problems  as  the  productivity  of  the  soil, 
the  forms  of  urban  labor,  the  opportunities  of  com- 
merce; in  a  word,  he  must  master  the  conditions  sur- 
rounding the  homely,  ineluctable,  ever-renewed  struggle 
for  bread  and  those  many  things  of  which  bread  is  the 
universal  symbol.  And  if  such  an  economic  review 
opens  an  avenue  to  the  understanding  of  the  lordly 
cities  of  the  past,  it  must  be  of  equal  service  in  inter- 
preting the  cultural  significance  of  that  secondary 
group  of  towns,  of  which  Siena  is  a  conspicuous  mem- 

95 


96 SIENA 

her.  As  an  approach  to  my  chief  end  in  this  book,  the 
Sienese  civilization,  I  purpose  in  this  chapter  to  examine 
the  economic  basis  upon  which  the  City  of  the  Virgin 
reared  the  remarkable  edifice  of  her  political  power  and 
artistic  achievement. 

The  Italian  cities  of  the  Middle  Age  owed  the  first 

. — — ~- _ _ _ a .__ — , ^ 

flush  jof  their  material  prosperity  to  the  stirring  of  jhe 
stagnantpools  of  life  effectedjby  that  world  movement 
cjlledth^cTusaHesT  ^The  quickened  pulse-beat  of  the 
great  city-centres  presently  produced  an'  accelerated 
political  development,  of  which  we  have  the  proof  in 
the  courageous  republicanism  of  the  twelfth  century, 
sigrraTTzedr^ylhe  universal  emergence  of  the  consulshi p 
and  the  heroic  resistance  to  Frederick  Barbarossa.  So 
closely  related  are  all  the  fields  of  human  endeavor  that 
an  expansive  movement  in  one  of  them  is  certain  to 
affect  advantageously  all  the  others.  Thus  the  more 
compact  political  organization  in  its  turn  reacted 
favorably  on  trade  and  industry,  with  the  result  that  an 
international  commerce  sprang  into  being,  which  spun 
ever-increasing  threads  of  intercourse  around  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Mediterranean  and  Atlantic.  In  this  com- 
mercial renascence  Siena  participated  according  to  the 
measure  of  her  opportunities  and  resources. 

When  in  the  twelfth  and,  with  gathering  momentum, 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  commerce  revived  in  western 
Europe,  it  employed  as  its  most  convenient  instrument, 
the  fair,  and  preferably,  for  the  purposes  of  general  or 
international  exchange,  the  fairs  of  Champagne  in 
eastern  France.  These  French  fairs  were  world-marts, 
and  presented  themselves  to  view  in  all  the  color  and 
picturesqueness  of  the  Middle  Age.  In  the  period  of 


THE   BURGHERS  97 

their  prosperity  the  long  process,  by  which  the  diverse 
peoples  of  Europe  have  been  more  or  less  reduced  to  a 
common  type,  had  hardly  begun.  In  dialect  and  dress, 
in  food  and  drink,  in  the  forms  of  social  intercourse, 
every  man  reflected  the  peculiarities  of  the  immediate 
small  group  into  which  he  was  born.  A  Florentine 
knew  a  Genoese  at  a  glance  by  the  cut  of  his  beard  or 
cloak;  that  fur  cap  signified  a  Pole;  that  greasy  curl  a 
Jew  from  York  or  Bruges.  A  score  of  tongues,  a 
hundred  dialects,  resounded  along  the  streets  of  tempo- 
rary booths  erected  to  serve  the  convenience  of  ex- 
change. The  county  of  Champagne  saw  annually  no 
less  than  six  of  these  international  gatherings.  While 
they  owed  their  popularity  in  the  first  instance  to  the 
central  position  of  Champagne  in  Europe,  they  further 
recommended  themselves  to  the  traders  by  the  circum- 
stance that  they  succeeded  one  another  in  such  a  way 
as  to  extend  practically  throughout  the  year.  They  thus 
assumed  the  character  of  a  permanent  international  money 
market  and  produce  exchange,  and  became  the  most 
convenient  instrument  at  hand  for  regulating  the  supply 
and  demand  of  many  necessities.  Each  of  the  six  fairs 
lasted  from  one  and  a  half  to  two  and  a  half  months. 
When  Lagny  fair,  with  which  the  year  began,  was  over, 
the  town  of  Bar-sur-Aube  set  up  its  booths,  with  Provins 
and  Troyes  following  in  the  summer  and  autumn,  nay, 
following  with  two  fairs  apiece  to  complete  the  full  round 
of  six. 

The  procedure  in  connection  with  any  one  of  these 
fairs  did  not  differ  greatly  from  the  order  of  exercises 
usual  in  all  the  others.  Each  gathering  was,  in  accord- 
ance with  mediaeval  sentiment,  inaugurated  on  or  near 


98  SIENA 

one  of  the  great  holidays  of  the  church,  the  occasion 
being  emphasized  by  a  formal  act  of  worship,  such  as  in 
the  Middle  Age  was  inseparable  alike  from  the  business 
and  pleasure  of  the  people.  The  first  week  passed 
amidst  the  noise  and  confusion  attending  the  erection  of 
the  wooden  booths  and  the  installation  of  the  merchants 
from  far  and  near,  to  be  followed  presently  by  an  ani- 
mated barter  in  all  known  varieties  of  merchandise, 
among  which  figured,  as  leading  articles,  the  cloth  of 
Flanders,  the  leather  of  Spain,  and  the  pepper  and 
spices  of  the  Orient.  When  the  sale  and  purchase  of 
the  goods  had  been  effected,  the  work  of  the  bankers  and 
money-changers  began,  a  work  the  risks  and  worry  of 
which  will  not  fail  to  appeal  to  us  if  we  recall  the  many 
coinage  systems  in  use  and  the  as  yet  helpless  infancy 
cf  capital  and  credit.  Such,  briefly,  were  the  fairs  of 
Champagne.* 

In  these  merchant  gatherings,  Italians,  usually 
designated  as  Lombards,  or  with  scant  international 
courtesy,  on  account  of  their  sharp  bargains,  as  Lom- 
bard dogs,  occupied  a  conspicuous  place.  Especially 
toward  the  end  of  each  fair,  when,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
banking  began,  did  they  step  forward  with  the  air  of 
polite  and  accommodating  middlemen;  and  among 
them,  from  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  f 
were  prominent  many  adventurous  citizens  of  Siena. 
For  the  second  half  of  that  same  century  we  have  orig- 

*  On  the  fairs  of  Champagne  and  the  general  commercial  activity  of  the 
Sienese  in  the  thirteenth  century,  see  the  following:  Paoli,  "Siena  alle 
FierediSciampagna";  Paoli  and  Piccolomini,  "Lettere  Volgari";  Zdekauer, 
"Document!  Senesi  riguardanti  le  Fiere  di  Champagne"  ("Studi  Senesi  nel 
circolo  Giuridico,"  XII,  337);  "II  Monte  dei  Paschi,"  Vol.  I;  Patetta, 
"Caorsini  Senesi  in  Inghilterra,"  "Bull.  Sen.,"  IV,  311  ff. 

fSee  Paoli,  "Fiere  di  Sciampagna,"  p.  69.    The  earliest  date  is  1216. 


Saint  Catherine 
By  Andrea  Vanni  (in  the  Church  of  San  Domenico) 


THE   BURGHERS  99 

inal  material  of  a  unique  kind,  being  a  number  of 
letters  of  Sienese  merchants  in  the  Tuscan  idiom,  record- 
ing the  transactions  of  Champagne  with  accuracy  and 
fulness.*  Although  these  documents,  owing  to  their 
antiquity,  constitute  an  important  contribution  to  the 
general  history  of  mediaeval  commerce,  the  student  of 
Siena  is  interested  in  them  chiefly  because  they  furnish 
a  clear,  direct,  and  wholly  intelligible  picture  of  the 
activity  on  which  the  early  prosperity  of  the  town  was 
founded. 

What  economic  facts  do  those  letters  communicate? 
To  begin  with,  we  make  out  that  it  was  customary, 
toward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  for  a  num- 
ber of  enterprising  Sienese  citizens  to  form  a  partnership 
and  dispatch  one  or  more  of  their  number  to  Champagne 
to  turn  the  subscribed  capital  to  account.  As  almost 
all  the  great  Sienese  families  with  whom  we  shall  be 
dealing,  the  Salimbeni,  the  Tolomei,  the  Buonsignori, 
the  Malavolti,  the  Cacciaconti,  and  many  more,  figure 
in  this  correspondence,  we  may  affirm  that  the  great 
fortunes  of  Siena  were  made  in  trade  and  were  fed  from 
the  French  tap-root.  While  the  chief  activity  of  one  and 
all  of  the  companies  was  the  traffic  in  money,  the  chief 
aim,  in  the  frank  language  of  one  of  the  letters,  was 
guadagniernne  grosamente,  that  is  to  say,  big  profits.f 
And  the  opportunities  must  be  acknowedged  to  have 
been  golden.  Armed  with  great  purses  of  thick  leather 
the  Sienese  volunteered  their  deft  services  in  effecting 
an  exchange  between  the  different  moneys  that  flowed 
together  at  the  fair,  or  in  extending  a  loan,  on  good 

"The  "Lettere  Volgari"  referred  to  above. 
fPaoli,  "Lettere,"  p.  75. 


100  SIENA 

security,  to  some  unlucky  fellow-mortal  hard  pressed 
for  cash.     Engaged  thus  in  exchange  and  loans  they 
did  the  business  of  an  ambulatory  bank.     Their  interest 
charge  on  loans  was  rarely  less  than  twenty  per  cent, 
per  annum,  and  might  be  sixty  per  cent,  and  more. 
The  monstrous  height  of  this  rate  is  less  a  sign  of  Italian 
greed  than  of  the  scarcity  of  metal  in  the  Middle  Age. 
It  stands  to  reason  that  persons  in  need  of  money  would 
not  have  paid  such  a  preposterous  interest  if  coin  had 
been  plentiful  and  the  lending  companies  numerous. 
The  inevitable  consequence  of  the  growing  interna- 
tional relations  of  trade  and  finance  was  the  gradual 
appearance  of  improved  banking  devices,  and  in  this 
connection  it  is  noteworthy  that  the  ruler  who,  in  the 
^_  thirteenth  century,  supplied  the  main  impetus  toward 
j£-    this  development  was  the  pope.     A  universal  power, 
£>   he  had  financial  relations  with  all  theTworld,  due  to  the 
^    general  offering .^alled_.  Peter's  Pence,  to  the  impost 
^    which  he  was  empowered  to  lay  on  ecclesiastical  prop- 

**•  ~  •  •       '  — — *--  —  -  -  -     J^ 

^5    erty  in  connection_with Lja_cjrusade,  and  to  the  payments 
V*     whicK  he  required  of jnewjv  appointeid  bishnp&urijeturn 

^  *~      - — -~— _ — * — _— — —  •    -  —*•• "^ 

£or  the_^apal-x^eftfifmatien.  From  Jill  thejcorners  of 
Europe  flowed  toward  Rome  sums  of  money,  the  collec- 
tion and  transmission  of  which  gradually  trained  a 
capable  and  enterprising  school  of  financiers.  With  this 
administrative  service  the  pope  naturally  entrusted  his 
own  countrymen,  the  Italians,  and  preferably  the 
Italian  merchants,  because  of  their  familiarity  with 
foreign  moneys  and  markets.  The  experience  thus 
gained  in  the  pope's  business,  added  to  the  knowledge 
acquired  in  the  pursuit  of  their  personal  affairs,  largely 
explains  why  these  Mediterranean  traders  took  the  lead 


THE   BURGHERS  101 

in  banking  and  kept  it  against  the  whole  world  for  many 
generations. 

However,  the  Italian  merchants,  enjoying  not  only 
the  rich  harvest  of  their  own  enterprise  in  Champagne 
and  elsewhere,  but  also  the  vast  financial  advantages  re- 
sulting from  collecting  and  accumulating  the  pope's 
moneys,  were  by  no  means  an  object  of  general  affection. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  world  the  dealer  in  money, 
the  capitalist,  has  excited  envy  and  hatred;  and  for 
reasons,  sometimes  paltry,  sometimes  grave  and  con- 
vincing, the  Italian  agents  of  the  pope  brought  down 
upon  their  heads  the  aversion  of  the  various  peoples 
among  whom  they  operated.  A  lively  echo  of  the  Eng- 
lish feeling  toward  them  comes  to  us  from  the  chronicle 
of  that  vigorous  enemy  of  the  Roman  curia,  Matthew 
Paris.*  In  the  reign  of  Henry  III  (1216-65)  the  pope — 
often  enough  with  the  consent  of  the  king,  who  stipulated 
for  a  share  in  the  profits — wrested  huge  sums  from  the 
fat  English  prelates,  making  use,  of  course,  in  his  hateful 
and  often  tyrannical  game,  of  his  Italian  servants.  The 
indignant  Matthew  abominates  them  as  the  pest  of  his 
country,  designating  them  sometimes  as  Lombards 
canes,  sometimes  as  Caorsini.  This  latter  term,  literally 
meaning  men  of  Cahors  in  France,  was  opprobriously 
applied  in  the  Middle  Age  to  money-lenders  and  usurers 
in  general.  Now  it  is  a  fact  certain  to  stir  our  interest 
that,  among  "the  Lombard  dogs"  and  Caorsini  so 
cordially  detested  by  the  patriotic  Matthew,  were  also 
merchants  from  Siena.  In  the  capacity  of  papal  col- 
lectors they  overran  the  land,  and  if  we  give  credence 
to  Matthew,  covered  both  themselves  and  their  master 

*  Mon.  Germ.  Hist.,  Scriptores,  Vol.  XXVIII. 


102  SIENA 

with  dishonor.  The  unchristian  greed  of  the  papal 
curia  may  be  admitted  without  further  argument,  but 
the  hard  practices  of  the  merchants  deserve  a  brief 
elucidation.  As  the  bishops  and  abbots,  whom  the 
Italians  fleeced  on  the  pope's  orders,  had  no  ready  cash, 
they  were  obliged  to  borrow  from  the  collectors  them- 
selves and  at  an  offensive  and  usurious  rate  of  interest. 
In  this  way  the  foreign  agents,  without  any  doubt  what- 
ever, ruined  many  men  and  committed  many  iniquities, 
but  in  partial  excuse  of  them  it  may  be  urged  that  the 
whole  business  world  was  as  yet  inchoate  and  disor- 
ganized, and  that  there  were  few  or  no  acknowledged 
rules  of  commercial  conduct  and  honor.  Nothing 
illustrates  this  state  of  affairs  so  well  as  the  ludicrous 
mediaeval  attitude  toward  usury. 

Usury  in  the  Middle  Age  was  interest — interest  high 
or  low,  fair  or  unfair,  and  was  strictly  forbidden  by  the 
church.*  Councils  and  fathers  had  taken  the  matter 
up  and  had  never  hesitated  to  declare  all  money  lending 
for  profit  as  contrary  to  the  gospels  and,  therefore, 
monstrous.  In  the  year  1179  the  Lateran  Council 
held  under  the  presidency  of  Pope  Alexander  III,  re- 
issued a  number  of  earlier  prescriptions  against  usury 
in  a  more  definite  form,  and  Alexander's  declarations 
were  afterward  often  republished  by  his  successors. 
Owing  to  the  ascendancy  of  the  church  in  all  the  affairs 
of  life  an  echo  of  the  papal  fulminations  may  be  found 
in  the  legislation  of  almost  all  the  states  and  cities  of 
Europe.  Wherever  in  the  Middle  Age  we  encounter 


*  Among  the  numerous  books  on  the  subject  of  usury  I  refer  the  reader 
to  W.  J.  Ashley,  "Introduction  to  English  Economic  History  and  Theory," 
I,  chapter  III. 


THE   BURGHERS  103 

an  expression  of  principle,  usury,  broadly  defined  as 
interest,  was  tabooed  and  forbidden. 

However,  what,  in  contrast  to  doctrine  and  law,  were 
the  facts  ?  We  have  already  had  a  hint  of  them  in  con- 
nection with  our  exposition  of  the  development  of 
Mediterranean  commerce,  and  must  have  assured  our- 
selves that  money-lending  flourished  as  a  necessary 
adjunct  to  trade.  We  may  go  further  back  than  the 
Middle  Age  and  easily  convince  ourselves  that  money- 
lending  has  existed  in  the  world  since  the  remote  day 
when  one  man,  by  saving,  laid  up  a  store  of  value  which 
another  desired  to  put  to  use.  In  view  of  so  ancient  and 
immemorial  a  practice  how  did  the  mediaeval  period 
come  to  develop  its  peculiar  position  ?  The  answer 
is  found  in  the  special  religious  and  economic  conditions 
of  the  era.  With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  civil- 
ization went  to  pieces,  and  capital  and  business  enter- 
prise alike  disappeared  from  society.  In  the  petty 
world  of  the  Barbarian  kingdoms  theviews  of  the  church 
on  trade  and  interest  acquired  an  indisputable  ascen- 
dancy, enforced  by  the  circumstance  that  they  sprang 
from  a  high-minded,  though  ascetic,  interpretation  of 
Christ's  message.  As  a  result  the  little  borrowing  and 
lending,  for  which  there  was  occasion  in  a  primitive 
society,  was  gladly  left,  with  its  stigma  of  corruption  and 
illegality,  to  the  outcast  race  of  the  Jews.  But  when  the 
West  again  summoned  its  energies,  and  trade,  stimu- 
lated by  the  crusades,  expanded  in  volume,  it  was 
unlikely  that  the  Christians  would  permit  the  profitable 
banking  field  to  be  monopolized  by  the  dingy  folk  of  the 
ghetto.  Laws  or  no  laws,  they  could  not  resist  the 
temptation  of  gain,  and  in  the  period  of  the  fairs  of 


104  SIENA 

Champagne  we  have  seen  that  Christian  money  lenders, 
and,  above  all,  Italians,  leaped  to  the  front.  To 
Italians,  accordingly,  it  was  given  to  organize  in  the 
course  of  the  following  generations  the  traffic  in  money 
as  a  serviceable  and  necessary  adjunct  of  business; 
Italians,  too,  gradually  succeeded  in  giving  the  despised 
calling  a  respectable  standing  in  society.  For  a  long  time, 
however,  church  and  state  combined  to  maintain  their 
theoretical  prohibitions,  and,  under  cover  of  them, 
frequently  pounced  on  money-lenders,  subjecting  them 
to  outrageous  extortions.  In  all  Europe  there  was 
hardly  a  prince,  lay  or  spiritual,  who  did  not  periodically 
arrest  Jews,  and  if  possible,  Italians,  on  the  ground 
of  an  illicit  trade,  to  set  them  free  again  in  return  for  a 
surrender  of  their  money-bags  or  such  a  percentage 
thereof  as  sufficed  to  establish  a  presumption  of  inno- 
cence in  a  mind  open  to  financial  persuasions.  A 
moral  justification  for  this  bare  procedure  might  seem 
to  have  been  furnished  by  the  hatred  with  which  the 
mass  of  the  people  looked  upon  the  usurious,  blood- 
sucking practices  of  the  capitalists.  But  these  prac- 
tices, if  common  sense  had  prevailed,  might  have  been 
regulated  by  drawing  a  sharp  line,  after  our  modern 
fashion,  between  usury  and  interest,  and  permitting 
one  while  prohibiting  the  other.  Only  this  the  church, 
sworn  to  its  ideals,  would  never  consent  to  do,  and  the 
civil  governments,  with  singular  shortsightedness,  long 
delayed  taking  the  initiative.  It  was  the  grave  risk, 
associated  with  the  money  traffic  under  a  system  alter- 
nating between  sufferance  and  confiscation,  which 
partially  explains  the  appalling  interest  charge  usual  in 
that  age.  Safety,  secured  by  the  legalization,  under 


THE   BURGHERS  105 

proper  restrictions,  of  the  operations  of  finance,  would 
have  been  attended  by  a  large  decline  in  the  interest 
rate.  Thus  the  vacuous  idealism  of  the  church — 
vacuous  and  even  cynical,  for  the  pope  and  the  prelacy 
were  among  the  leading  figures  of  the  money  market 
both  as  clients  and  as  silent  partners  of  the  merchant 
companies — long  delayed  the  cure  of  a  most  crying  evil. 
It  is  not  without  pleasure  that  the  historian  of  Siena 
observes  the  little  hill-town  to  have  been  among  the 
earliest  cities  to  enter  a  protest  against  the  intransigent 
position  of  the  church.  As  early  as  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, as  is  proved  by  the  Constitution  of  the  year  1262, 
the  government  of  the  republic,  though  clamorously 
professing  obedience  to  the  church  in  all  things,  author- 
ized usury,  provided  the  usurer  be  not  in  other  respects 
a  man  of  ill  repute  and  suspicious  religious  opinions.* 
Probably  such  legislation  as  this  put  banking  operations 
on  a  sounder  basis  in  Siena  than  was  usual  in  Italy,  and 
especially  north  of  the  Alps.  Nevertheless,  while  the 
church  stood  her  ground  some  peril  dogged  the  steps 
of  the  usurers,  as  is  proved  by  a  curious  denunciation 
which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  records  of  a  papal 
inquisitor,  sent  to  ferret  out  heresies  in  Tuscany.  To 
this  inquisitor  it  was  reported  that  a  Sienese  notary, 
Ser  Pietro  by  name,  not  only  practised  usury,  but 
"stubbornly  asserted  that  to  lend  money  to  people  was 
not  a  sin,  and  that  the  brothers  and  religious  who  said 
otherwise  nesciunt  quid  loquantur:"  they  do  not  know 
what  they  are  talking  about!  f  We  thank  Ser  Pietro  for 

*  "II  Constitute  di  Siena  dell  'anno  1262."  Dist.  II,  151;  with  comment 
thereon  by  Sanesi,  "  Bull.  Sen.,"  VI,  p.  507. 

t  Ser  Pietro  lived  during  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century.  See 
Sanesi,  "Bull.  Sen.,"  VI,  497 /. 


106  SIENA 

sending  us  out  of  his  tomb  a  breath  of  common  sense  on 
a  matter  distastefully  redolent  of  unctuous  and  insincere 
professions.  At  the  same  time  we  are  pleased  to  gather 
from  the  document  that  the  bold  heretic,  being  at  the 
time  of  the  denunciation  against  him  already  dead,  was 
as  safe  as  a  grave  could  make  him  from  the  clutches  of 
the  all-powerful  tribunal.  Conceivably  the  Sienese 
state,  in  view  of  its  partial  authorization  of  money- 
lending,  would  have  interfered  to  protect  its  subject 
against  the  ecclesiastical  police,  but  we  can  hardly 
flatter  ourselves  that  it  would  have  prevailed  in  the 
struggle.  At  any  rate,  with  or  without  the  approval  of 
the  church,  the  state  remained  true  to  its  convictions 
about  the  legitimacy  of  financial  operations,  and  in  the 
year  1339  gave  the  final  sanction  to  its  views  by  authoriz- 
ing every  one  to  engage  in  money-lending  who  registered 
in  a  special  ledger,  nel  libra  detto  usuraio  di  Biccherna, 
an  act  of  entry  equivalent  to  the  purchase  of  a  license.* 
Returning  once  more  to  the  fairs  of  Champagne,  we 
find,  on  looking  into  the  procedure  at  these  international 
gatherings  in  connection  with  the  sale  and  purchase  of 
goods,  that  drafts,  letters  of  credit,  and  other  similar 
devices  of  a  perfected  capitalistic  regime  had  only  just 
made  a  beginning,  and  that  settlements  were  preferably 
effected  directly  between  traders  and  with  actual  coin. 
Not  until  toward  the  year  1300  did  the  draft  become  a 
universal  instrument  of  business.  During  the  preceding 
one  hundred  years  experiments  looking  forward  to  its 
perfection  were  frequent,  and  undoubtedly  our  Sienese 
bankers,  and  even  more  certainly  their  Florentine  rivals, 
counted  for  something  in  giving  this  admirable  device 

*  Muratori,  XV.  "Cronica  Sanese."     Ad  annum  1339. 


THE   BURGHERS  107 

for  universalizing  trade  its  final  form.*  Still,  with 
or  without  the  draft,  minted  money,  as  the  most  con- 
venient means  of  hoarding  wealth,  would  be  an  im- 
portant staple  of  commerce,  and  it  is  curious  to  see  how 
the  Tuscans  by  their  superior  adaptability,  as  well  as  by 
their  superior  cunning,  drove  a  thriving  business  in  this 
article.  The  standard  coin  of  the  Champagne  fair  was 
the  provisinOy  a  small  silver  penny  (denarius  or  denier) 
from  the  mint  of  the  local  magnate,  the  count  of  Cham- 
pagne and  Provins;  12  pennies  made  a  shilling  (solidus), 
and  240  pennies  constituted  a  pound  or  libra.  The 
Tuscans,  and  prominently  among  them  alas!  our 
Sienese,  learned  that  by  coining  a  provisino  of  their  own, 
part  silver  and  part  copper,  they  could  enter  the  Cham- 
pagne market,  capture  from  the  unsuspecting  traders 
the  native  money  with  its  greater  intrinsic  value,  and  by 
sending  it  home  for  recoinage,  clear  a  handsome  profit.f 
Undoubtedly  one  of  the  ambiguous  features  of  the  early 
money  traffic,  and  sure  in  the  long  run  to  be  its  own 
undoing!  Experience  declares  that  the  debasing  of  the 
currency  once  begun  knows  no  end,  while  the  confusion 
of  prices  caused  by  a  fluctuating  standard  of  value  puts 
an  insufferable  burden  on  commerce.  Presently  only 
the  cheaper  or  Tuscan  kind  of  provisino  held  the  mar- 
ket, with  a  still  cheaper  preparing  to  drive  out  the  hybrid 
rival.  The  king  of  France,  not  to  be  outdone,  followed 
the  insidious  example  set  by  the  Transalpine  merchants, 
and  shamefully  debased  the  standard  royal  coin,  the 
silver  penny  or  denier  from  the  mint  of  Tours.  The 
wily  Italians  had  killed  the  goose  that  laid  the  golden 

*  Schaube,  "Anfange  der  Tratte."    Zeitschrift  fur  Handelsrecht,  XLIII, 
pp.  1-51.  t  "H  Monti  dei  Paschi,"  Vol.  I,  p.  20  ff. 


108  SIENA 

eggs!  With  no  reliable  standard  in  circulation  the 
whole  business  world  was  subjected  to  great  annoyance 
and  loss.  In  this  crisis  an  ingenious  people  stepped  for- 
ward, a  people  whom  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  once  declared 
to  have  been  added  by  a  special  act  of  divine  grace  as  a 
fifth  element  to  a  world  effectively  complete  with  four. 
In  the  year  1252  the  Florentines*  abandoned  the  silver 
basis,  rendered  unreliable  by  a  flood  of  debased  silver 
coins,  and,  first  of  mediaeval  nations,  went  over  to  the 
gold  standard :  they  issued  the  gold  florin,  very  carefully 
coined  and  almost  100  per  cent.  fine.  Commerce 
welcomed  the  new  standard  as  a  godsend,  and  soon 
the  florin  had  made  its  way  into  every  market  of  the 
world.  The  establishment  of  an  honest  currency  was 
an  act  of  enlightened  self-interest,  designating  more 
plainly  than  words  the  supreme  seat  of  Tuscan  intelli- 
gence. Most  certainly  we  are  justified  in  holding  that 
the  financial  wisdom  symbolized  by  the  florin  con- 
tributed in  no  small  measure  toward  securing  the 
ultimate  primacy  in  Tuscany  to  the  city  of  the  Red 
Lily.f 

If  in  sketching  the  activity  of  the  Sienese  in  Cham- 
pagne I  have  dwelt  chiefly  on  its  sordid  and  disorganized 


*  For  description  of  the  florin  see  Villani,  "Croniche,"  Book  VI,  chap  .53. 
For  its  value  (fine)  as  well  as  that  of  other  current  coins,  see  Schneider, 
"Die  finanziellen  Beziehungen  der  florentinischen  Bankiers  zur  Kirche," 
p.  74. 

t  The  stages  of  Florentine  financial  ascendency  may  be  briefly  given  as 
follows:  In  the  early  Middle  Age  the  silver  penny  was  the  standard  coin, 
and  of  silver  pennies  there  were  many  varieties  (of  Tours,  of  Pisa,  of  Siena, 
etc.).  In  1234  the  Florentines  took  the  step  of  issuing  a  much  more  valuable 
coin,  a  silver  solidus  (i  solidus  =12  pennies).  The  popularity  of  this  coin 
induced  them  to  adopt  (1252)  the  still  bolder  measure  of  issuing  a  gold 
florin,  which  contained  in  small  volume  the  value  of  20  silver  solidi  and  240 
silver  pennies.  See  Davidsohn,  "Geschichte  VOH  Florenz,"  II1,  pp.  213,  411. 


THE   BURGHERS  109 

phases,  I  would  not  convey  the  impression  that  this 
French  trade  did  not  have  a  very  romantic  side.  The 
truth  is  that,  if  it  had  not  touched  the  love  of  life  and 
challenged  the  spirit  of  adventure  lurking  in  the  human 
breast,  it  would  never  have  been  followed  with  persist- 
ence. Prizes  beckoned,  supreme  prizes  as  the  world 
counts,  but  they  were  to  be  had  only  at  the  risk  of  a 
journey  down  a  long  lane  of  perils.  The  Sienese  com- 
panies of  the  Salimbeni,  the  Tolomei,  and  the  rest  were 
the  thirteenth  century  prototypes  of  the  gentlemen- 
adventurers  of  Elizabeth's  day;  and  the  fairs  of  Cham- 
pagne were  the  Gold  Coasts  and  Golcondas  which  they 
sought  with  high  hearts  and  faces  lifted  to  the  dawn. 
A  distinguished  scholar  has  drawn  a  vivacious  picture 
of  the  dangers  besetting  in  those  anarchic  days  the 
journey  across  Apennines  and  Alps,  which  we  children 
of  these  piping  times  of  peace  can  see  only  in  the  happy 
light  of  a  vacation  outing. 

"When  all  was  ready  and  the  rolls  and  bales  were  loaded  on 
the  pack-asses,  the  company  proceeded  in  long  caravans  and  by 
short  stages  across  valleys  and  mountains  over  perilous  paths  and 
ways,  where  from  time  to  time  thieves,  and  lords  and  castle-owners 
worse  than  thieves,  burst  forth  to  steal,  or  to  impose  exactions; 
and  with  one  and  the  other  it  was  necessary  now  to  use  the  sword 
and  now  to  compound  with  dues  and  presents,  as  seemed  best. 
Then  came  the  journey  from  fair  to  fair  through  distant  and 
often  inhospitable  countries,  always  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest 
risks  and  dangers.  The  dues,  imposts,  and  exactions  of  every 
sort  to  be  paid  on  passing  through  villages  and  cities  are  not  to  be 
enumerated.  If  the  barons  of  France  agreed  to  let  the  companies 
of  Italian  merchants  impoverish  their  subjects  with  commercial 
bargains  and  even  more  with  money-lending,  it  was  certainly  not 
for  nothing;  for  they  did  not  fail  to  draw  profit  from  the  situation 


110  SIENA 

in  their  turn.  The  agents  of  the  companies  were  obliged,  in  order 
to  curry  favor,  to  keep  their  purses  open,  since  without  a  discreet 
liberality  neither  life  nor  substance  was  secure."* 

What  a  tale  of  oppressions  almost  inconceivable  to 
us  of  another  and  a  milder  period !  But  the  hard  school 
of  life  had  at  least  the  advantage  of  developing  supple- 
ness and  decision,  and  of  giving  the  manhood  of  these 
trading  adventurers  something  of  the  fine  temper  of 
steel.  Without  this  training,  we  may  boldly  assert,  there 
could  never  have  been  an  Italian  Renaissance,  which, 
with  its  arts  and  letters,  is  nothing  but  a  later  and  a 
nobler  phase  of  the  same  passion  of  adventure  which 
drove  the  merchants  to  seek  new  opportunities  across 
inhospitable  lands  and  seas. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  association  of  the  Sienese 
merchant  companies  with  the  Roman  curia  in  the  capac- 
ity of  collectors  of  papal  taxes,  and  I  have  made  it  plain 
that  this  was  one  of  the  main  sources  of  Sienese  pros- 
perity. In  fact,  toward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century  a  large  percentage  of  the  papal  moneys  flowed 
through  Sienese  hands.  In  the  narrow  via  del  re  may 
still  be  found  an  interesting  reminiscence  of  this  early 
fiscal  bond  between  Siena  and  the  capital  of  Christen- 
dom. On  an  ancient  house  front  can  be  read  an 
inscription  informing  the  passer-by  that  Angelieri 
Solafica,  campsor  Domini  Papa  Gregorii  IX,  built  this 
residence  A.  D.  1234-!  This  Angelieri,  who  is  memo- 
rable as  the  grandfather  of  the  famous  poet,  Cecco 
Angelieri,  was  in  all  probability  one  of  the  very  Caorsini 
who  bled  England  in  the  days  of  Henry  III  and  excited 

*  Signer  Menzozzi  in  "II  Monti  dei  Paschi,"  Vol.  I,  54. 

t  For  fac-simile  of  this  inscription  see  "II  Monte  dei  Paschi,"  I,  14. 


THE   BURGHERS  111 

the  savage  protest  of  Matthew  Paris.  But  if  Matthew 
was  displeased,  Gregory  declared  himself  well  served, 
as  Angelieri's  fine  house  sufficiently  shows,  and  Greg- 
ory's successors  continued  for  some  time  to  employ  the 
Sienese  companies  in  their  affairs.  But  the  honor  was 
invested  with  perils.  For  one  thing,  rival  cities,  like 
Florence,  never  ceased  playing  upon  the  pope's  sus- 
picions, and,  further,  the  complicated  politics  of  Italy^ 
required  powers  of  quick  resolution  and  deep  deception 
which  the  Sienese  did  not  command.  An  inevitable 
crisis  resulted  whenvtoward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  struggle  which  the  papacy  had  long;  been^ 
waging  with  the  Empire  came_to_a_head.  Obeying  theji 
impetuous  temper,  the  Sienese  plnpgpH  h 


conflict  on  the  imperial  or  Ghibelline  side.  Cool-headed 
Florence  upheTcT  the  Guelph  or  papal  cause  with  Iniij 
deeds  and  still  louder  protestations.  As  a  reward,  more 
and  more  of  the  Roman  banking  business  was  turned 
toward  the  Arno  city.  Worse  followed.  In  November, 
1260,*  on  the  heels  of  the  great  victory  of  Montaperti, 
which  for  a  brief  moment  delivered  all  Tuscany  into  the 
hands  of  the  Sienese  and  their  Ghibelline  allies,  the  pope 
smote  them  with  his  interdict.  Throughout  the  Middle 
Age  ambitious  pontiffs  used  this  weapon,  and  the  even 
sharper  one  of  excommunication,  most  unscrupulously 
for  political  ends.  The  confusion  produced  among  the 
Sienese  merchants  abroad  by  the  papal  enmity  was 
immense.  Andrea  Tolomei,  writing  from  Troyes  in 
1262  to  his  associates,  is  full  of  lamentations  on  the 


*  Paoli,  "Fiere  di  Sciampagna,"  p.  84.  The  interdict  was  not  removed 
till  1266.  Consult  with  regard  to  the  effects  of  the  papal  displeasure  David- 
sohn,  "Geschichte  von  Florenz,"  II1,  p.  532. 


112  SIENA 

subject;  many  debtors  refuse  to  pay  "per  lo  fato  de  lo 
schumunichamento,"  and  the  abbess  of  the  Mount  of 
Provins  alleges  as  a  further  reason  that  "maiestro 
Mille" — apparently  the  papal  nuncio — "forbade  her  to 
pay."  In  fact,  the  good  Andrea  is  on  the  point  of  losing 
faith  in  human  nature:  "if  the  pope  should  dispatch  the 
order  that  all  the  Sienese  were  to  be  seized  in  person  and 
goods,  as  it  is  rumored  he  plans  to  do,  I  believe  that  his 
order  would  be  obeyed,  for  there  are  many  wicked  peo- 
ple here,  who  take  pleasure  in  robbing  their  neighbor; 
and  they  will  rob  him  if  they  can,  and  urge  the  pope  as  a 
pretext."*  Many  of  the  banking  companies,  among 
them  the  very  house  of  the  Tolomei,  which,  according  to 
the  above  letter,  found  itself  in  a  painful  situation,  soon 
made  peace  with  the  papacy,  privately,  of  course,  and 
behind  the  back  of  the  municipality.  By  and  by,  too, 
the  interdict  and  its  attending  excommunications  were 
withdrawn.  Although  it  is  true  that  the  pope  never 
ceased  to  employ  certain  of  his  Sienese  servants,  even 
while  their  city  was  under  the  ban,  the  fact  remains 
that  the  Florentines,  with  their  reputation  of  tried 
Guelph  fidelity,  steadily  improved  their  hold  on  the 
papal  finances  at  the  expense  of  their  neighbors. 

Certainly  the  pope  did  not  cease  his  relations  with  the 
greatest  of  all  the  Sienese  merchant  houses,  the  Buon- 
signori.  The  history  of  this  house  is  a  mirror  of  the 
commercial  fortunes  of  Siena  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
Founded  in  the  year  1209,  it  rose  to  be  the  foremost 
company  of  Europe  under  the  name  of  the  Magna 
Tavola.  La  grande  table  was  a  name  to  conjure  with 
at  the  French  fairs.  As  the  century  advanced  the 

*  "  Lettere  Volgari,"  pp.  45-47. 


THE   BURGHERS  113 

society  established  agents  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  en- 
gaging in  banking  on  a  scale  which  suggests  a  great 
international  credit  institution  of  our  own  days.  In 
the  year  1289,  on  the  occasion  of  a  reorganization,  its 
capital  amounted  to  the  sum,  huge  for  those  days,  of 
35,000  gold  florins,  while  among  its  clients  we  find  popes, 
emperors,  kings,  barons,  merchants,  and  cities.*  It 
weathered  many  storms,  which  broke  over  it  in  the  form 
of  royal  confiscations  and  papal  anathemas,  until  in 
1298,  when  seemingly  at  its  zenith,  it  was  overtaken  by 
disaster.  There  was  a  panic,  accompanied  by  a  run  of 
the  depositors,  and  the  proud  institution  went  to  the  wall 
— an  accident,  the  patriotic  historian  Tommasi  f  would 
have  us  believe,  due  to  a  quarrel  among  the  partners 
and  the  envy  of  rivals,  but  if  an  accident,  it  was  omin- 
ously coincident  with  the  decline  of  Sienese  and  the 
rise  of  Florentine  banking  prestige. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Sienese  merchant  companies 
were  financial  institutions  doing  business  in  exchange 
and  loans.  But  they  also  dealt,  though  in  a  subsidiary 
way,  in  general  merchandise.  That  valuable  literary 
jetsam,  the  Lettere  Volgari  already  referred  to,  reveals 
that  the  companies  sold  wax,  pepper,  and  spices  at  the 
French  fairs,  and  carried  back  Flemish  cloth  to  Siena. 
Many  articles  besides,!  such  as  shoes,  stockings,  belts, 
ploughs,  cuirasses  and  helmets,  found  their  way  to  the 
markets  of  the  town,  showing  clearly  a  certain  back- 
wardness in  its  industrial  development.  Truth  to  tell, 
Siena  was  not  and  never  became  a  great  manufacturing 


*  "II  Monte  dei  Paschi,"  I,  p.  41. 

t  "Dell'  Historic  di  Siena,"  Lib.  VII,  p.  141. 

t  Zdckaucr,  "La  Vita  Privata  nel  Dugento,"  p.  46. 


114  SIENA 

centre.  But  this  much  the  thirteenth  century  with  its 
world-wide  stimulation  of  urban  life  accomplished:  it 
brought  the  desire  for  industrial  activity  and  organiza- 
tion and  with  it  that  characteristic  institution  of  the 
Middle  Age,  the  guild.  Naturally  the  merchants, 
whose  rise  preceded  the  coming  of  industries  to  Siena, 
led  the  way  in  the  formation  of  a  general  society  planned 
to  protect  their  common  interests.  We  hear  of  a  Sienese 
merchant  guild  as  early  as  the  year  1192.  But  the 
crafts  were  not  slow  to  follow  suit,  and  presently  the 
masons,  carpenters,  inn-keepers,  barbers,  butchers, 
millers,  and  the  other  classes  of  workmen  and  artisans 
were  organized  as  arti,  with  the  usual  apparatus  of 
constitution,  officers,  regulations,  prohibitions,  and 
fines.*  Under  these  conditions  the  general  social  and 
economic  aspect  of  Sienese  life  was  much  like  that  of 
any  other  mediaeval  town. 

While  the  presence  in  Siena  of  merchant  and  craft 
guilds  implies  life  and  organized  power,  it  does  not 
prove  the  existence  of  great  industrial  establishments. 
The  manufacture  which  in  those  days  was  the  greatest 
source  of  prosperity  in  Europe  was  woolen  cloth.  It 
conferred  the  same  sort  of  preeminence  as  coal  and  iron 
give  to-day.  Cloth  created  the  wealth  of  Flanders;  her 
flocks  of  sheep  were  the  riches  of  England;  Florence, 
just  girding  her  loins  for  her  victorious  race,  owed  her 
material  greatness  to  the  excellence  of  her  cloth.  The 
Sienese,  too,  made  an  effort  to  acclimate  the  cloth  in- 
dustry, but  their  wool  guild  never  really  throve  because 

*  "II  Monte  dei  Paschi,"  Vol.  I,  15,  note.  Very  likely  such  characteristic 
expressions  of  the  mediaeval  spirit  of  association  as  the  guilds  go  far  back 
of  the  twelfth  century;  no  Sienese  document,  however,  recording  the  fact, 
has  come  down  to  us. 


THE   BURGHERS  115 

of  the  great  number  of  adverse  conditions  with  which  it 
had  to  battle.  For  one  thing,  the  wool  crop  of  the  out- 
lying district  was  never  large  or  of  high  grade,  and  most 
important,  in  fact  decisive,  was  the  grievous  dearth  of 
water.  Never  have  men  since  cities  have  a  history 
struggled  so  hard  against  a  decree  of  nature,  or  so  per- 
sistently hoped  against  hope,  pinning  their  faith  in  the 
last  resort  to  a  miracle.  With  admirable  patience  the 
burghers  brought  water  from  afar  by  means  of  cunning, 
subterranean  conduits  which  still  exist,  arousing  the 
admiration  of  modern  engineers.*  Nevertheless  the 
supply  obtained  was  insufficient.  When  that  pictu- 
resque upland  region,  where  Siena  has  her  seat,  failed  to 
reveal,  even  to  close  scrutiny,  any  further  spring  capable 
of  being  tapped  for  city  uses,  the  townsmen  encouraged 
one  another  to  believe  in  a  hidden  river  underneath  their 
feet.  They  even  knew  its  name,  the  Diana;  borings 
were  invited  at  public  expense,  and  sensitive  ears  in  the 
still  hours  of  the  night  plainly  heard  the  rush  of  its 
waters.  Readers  of  the  Divine  Poet  have  laughed 
merrily  over  his  contemptuous  fling  at  the  gente  vana 
who  hugged  such  illusions  to  their  breast, f  but  for  the 
lover  of  this  people  the  curious  aberration  has  the  deep 
pathos  inseparable  from  the  spectacle  of  hopes  heroi- 
cally pursued  in  the  face  of  the  unchangeable  decrees  of 
nature. 

No,  the  arte  della  lana,  though  it  took  root,  never 
acquired  commanding  proportions;  in  fact,  the  indus- 
trial guilds,  taken  as  a  whole,  did  not  prosper  compared 
with  neighboring  Florence.  Doubtless  the  absence  of 

*  On  the  water  supply  see  the  meritorious  work  by  F.  Bargagli-Petrucci, 
"Le  Fonti  di  Siena."  t  Dante,  "  Purgatorio,"  XIII,  153. 


116  SIENA 

water,  and  the  relative  poverty  of  the  neighborhood  in 
such  raw  products  of  industry  as  wool,  copper,  and  iron, 
are  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  situation,  but  the  mis- 
taken zeal  of  the  municipality  and  the  rigorous  statutes 
of  the  guilds  themselves  count  for  something  in  the 
result.  Among  many  excellent  regulations  which  con- 
cerned themselves  with  obtaining  for  the  consumer  a 
full  measure  and  an  honest  product,  were  to  be  found 
others  which,  by  paralyzing  the  free  activities  of  the 
workers,  must  have  caused  grave  harm.  Thus  the 
statutes  of  the  wool  guild  required  *  that  only  one  piece 
of  cloth  be  woven  at  a  time,  that  it  be  neither  longer  nor 
shorter  than  a  certain  standard,  and  that  only  native 
wool  be  put  on  the  looms;  and  all  guilds  alike  pursued 
a  selfishly  exclusive  policy,  imposing  a  heavy  tax  on  all 
candidates  for  admission,  and  positively  forbidding  the 
exercise  of  their  respective  occupations  to  all  but  guild 
members  in  good  standing.  Add  minute  regulations 
regarding  the  hours  and  quantity  of  labor  and  the  ob- 
servation of  so  many  church  festivals  that  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  days  of  the  calendar  year  were 
devoted  to  an  enforced  rest,f  and  we  get  some  idea  of 
the  mischievousness  of  that  spirit  of  over-regulation 
which  characterized  both  the  guilds  and  the  govern- 
ment. However,  we  can  hardly  pretend  that  Siena 


*  "Statuti  Senesi,"  II,  p.  XXI.  Banchi,  the  editor,  writes  indeed  of  the 
wool  guild  of  the  Radicondoli,  but  what  he  says  holds  of  the  wool  guild  of 
Siena  as  well,  as  may  be  seen  by  consulting  the  "  Statute  dell'  arte  della  Lana  " 
in  Vol.  I  of  the  same  publication. 

t  "Statuti  Senesi,"  I,  p.  311,  gives  the  list:  "queste  sono  le  feste  che  pare 
al  Comune  dell'  Arte  de  la  Lana  che  sieno  da  guardare,"  seventy-eight  in  all, 
which,  with  fifty-two  Sundays,  brings  the  total  to  one  hundred  and  thirty. 
It  is,  however,  not  likely  that  the  suspension  of  work  on  all  these  feast-days 
was  complete. 


THE   BURGHERS  117 

suffered  more  in  this  respect  than  her  neighbors,  for 
the  guild  system  was  universal  and  the  petty  and  chaotic 
economic  views,  upon  which  it  rested,  enjoyed  a  general 
currency  in  the  Middle  Age. 

The  final  and  conclusive  proof  of  the  industrial  weak- 
ness  of  Siena_Js  furnishecTBy  theHFact  that  the  craft 
guilds  never  played  a  political  role  of  any  importance. 
The  city  becarneTiirf  due  time  a  democracy,  much  more 
of  a  delnnocracy7  mdee37~tnlin  Florence,  where  the  arti 
simply  and  without  ceremony  took  possession  of  the 
goyernment^and  admitted  to  citizenship  only  through 
the  door  of  their  organizations.  In  Siena  the  guilds 
were  not  strong  enough  to  seize  the  power,  and  when 
popular  rule  came,  the  political  franchise  was  distributed 
without  any  regard  to  the  guild  connection.  The 
closer  we  examine  the  situation  the  more  firmly  we 
become  convinced  that  the  only  really  powerful  guild 
was  that  of  the  merchants,  and  the  only  occupation, 
largely  remunerative,  that  of  trade.  The  merchants, 
therefore,  not  only  had  a  political  role  assured  to  them,* 
but  they  alone,  through  their  companies,  were  responsible 
for  lifting  Siena  above  the  plane  of  a  provincial  market, 
and  for  bringing  her  into  contact  with  the  general 
political  and  economic  forces  of  Italy.  For  this  reason 
I  return  once  more  to  her  commercial  fortunes.  Here 
is  the  root  of  her  vitality,  and  here,  too,  the  key  to  the 
most  stirring  phase  of  her  political  destiny. 

What  I  have  said  of  the  unenlightened  views  which 
were  entertained  in  the  Middle  Age  with  regard  to 
industry,  and  which,  while  turning  every  occupation  into 

*  The  political  power  exercised  by  the  merchants  will  be  treated  in  chapter 
VII. 


118  SIENA 

a  monopoly,  almost  buried  it  under  a  mountain  of 
regulations,  should  prepare  our  minds  for  a  wealth  of 
unfavorable  conditions  weighing  also  upon  commerce. 
Many  of  these  had  their  origin  in  the  undeveloped  state 
of  society  and  in  the  relative  infrequency  of  intercourse 
even  among  neighbors.  The  crusades,  we  are  aware, 
greatly  stirred  and  accelerated  the  sluggish  stream  of 
mediaeval  trade,  but,  even  after  the  crusades,  a  Tuscan 
town,  steeped  in  the  current  feudal  concepts,  long  con- 
tinued to  see  in  a  neighbor  merely  an  enemy,  to  be  put 
down  if  possible,  in  any  case  to  be  hated  while  breath 
came  and  went.  The  foreign  trader  who  entered  the 
gates  of  Siena  was  watched  with  suspicion,  and,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  prevailing  legal  theory,  was  looked 
upon  as  gathered  into  a  single  personality  with  the  city 
of  his  origin.  He  was  a  Florentine  or  Pisan  as  the  case 
might  be,  with  the  rights  of  a  Florentine  or  Pisan,  which 
in  the  rude,  formative  days  would  mean  none  at  all. 
Only  treaties,  for  which  the  time  ripened  but  slowly, 
could  give  him  a  standing  in  the  eyes  of  the  Sienese  law. 
In  case,  therefore,  a  visiting  trader  delayed  payment  of  a 
debt,  or  defaulted,  the  courts  gave  the  native  creditor 
the  right  to  indemnify  himself  by  the  seizure  of  the  goods 
of  any  of  the  debtor's  fellow  citizens  who  happened  to 
be  at  hand.  In  the  view  of  the  rhadamanthine  judge, 
the  individual  merchant's  fault  implicated  the  whole 
foreign  society  to  which  the  individual  belonged. 
This  barbarous  practice  with  regard  to  international 
trade  was  known  as  the  system  of  rappresaglie  or 
reprisals.  The  havoc  which  it  wrought  may  be  left  to 
the  imagination.  No  sooner  did  the  courts  render  a 
verdict  than  all  the  countrymen  of  the  defaulting 


THE   BURGHERS  119 

merchant,  taking  what  they  could  gather  in  their  arms, 
fled  precipitately,  leaving  the  bulk  of  their  goods  as  loot 
in  the  hands  of  the  creditor.  The  rival  city,  insulted  in 
the  person  of  its  routed  merchants,  hardly  awaited  their 
return  before  it  visited  a  similar  fate  on  the  traders  of 
the  offending  party.  Here  was  commercial  war,  which 
might  at  any  moment  be  transferred  to  the  grim  decision 
of  the  field.  Men  would  have  to  see  the  patent  folly  of 
such  action  and  learn  to  look  upon  one  another  with 
more  fraternal  eyes  before  their  intercourse  could  be  put 
upon  a  higher  plane.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
thirteenth  century — doubtless  a  timid  commencement 
was  made  before  that  time — the  documents  permit  us 
to  see  how  the  Tuscan  cities  strove  to  replace  the  institu- 
tion of  reprisals,  worthy  of  Mohawks  and  Hurons,  with 
commercial  treaties,  planned  to  eliminate  violence  and 
to  give  international  trade  that  security  without  which 
it  could  not  live.  During  the  century  lying  between 
1 200  and  1300  tentative  agreements  gradually  crystal- 
lized into  durable  instruments  of  peace.*  The  judicial 
action  with  regard  to  a  debtor  was  limited  to  the  guilty 
person,  and  one  man's  fault  or  misfortune  did  not  apply 
the  shears  to  every  thread  which  trade  and  civilization 
had  spun  between  two  communes.  Treaties  in  the  place 
of  violence  and  rude  self-help — such  is  the  road  that 
has  been  travelled  by  men  in  Italy  and  throughout  the 
world  in  order  to  secure  the  fruits  of  civilization.  The 

*  See  on  reprisals  Del  Vecchio  and  Casanova,  "Le  Rappresaglie  nei 
Comuni  medioevali";  also  Arias,  "I  Trattati  Commercial!  della  Republica 
Fiorentina."  Parte  seconda  takes  up  the  rappresaglie  and  their  gradual 
amelioration.  See  especially  "Documenti,"  p.  371  ff.  As  early  as  1213  a 
Bolognese  document  puts  forth  the  principle  a  cui  data,  a  colui  richieslo, 
which  principle,  the  result  probably  of  the  revival  of  Roman  law,  gradually 
crept  into  all  trade  agreements. 


120  SIENA 

effect  of  treaty  arrangements  among  the  Tuscan  com- 
munes was  to  replace  cruelty,  injustice,  and  brute  force 
with  a  peaceful  procedure  advantageous  and  honorable 
for  everybody  concerned.  Not  that  trade  in  Tuscany 
became  entirely  free  and  unrestricted,  since  for  financial 
reasons,  if  there  had  been  no  others,  the  cities  were 
obliged  to  levy  customs  duties  at  the  gates;  but  if  trade 
did  not  become  free  as  the  air,  it  liberated  itself  from 
the  most  barbarous  disabilities  and  became  as  secure  as 
cities  in  a  divided  nation  without  a  central  head  could 
make  it.  Thus  commerce  will  be  seen  to  have  been  a 
potent  agent  of  civilization;  but  as  civilization  means 
peace,  and  as  peace  stimulates  the  exchange  of  goods, 
trade  steadily  produced  more  trade  until  commercial 
considerations  became  the  leading  preoccupation  of 
Siena  and  all  her  Italian  sisters. 

From  what  we  have  seen  of  the  association  of  Siena, 
with  the  papacy  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  the  fairs  of 
Champagne  on  the  other,  we  are  prepared  to  assert 
that  the  all-important  highway  which  Sienese  trade 
would  struggle  to  keep  open  and  make  sure  was  the  road 
from  Rome  over  Siena  into  France.  That  was  the 
famous  via  francigena  or  via  francesa.  On  the  north- 
bound journey  from  Siena  it  debouched  from  the  Elsa 
into  the  Arno  valley  not  far  beyond  Poggibonsi,  and  on  the 
southbound  journey  the  last  town  in  Sienese  territory 
which  it  touched  was  San  Quirico,  flanked  on  right  and 
left  by  the  far-seen  hill-towns  of  Montalcino  and  Monte- 
pulciano.  We  have  learned  in  an  earlier  chapter  how 
a  natural  patriotism  impelled  the  young  republic  to 
possess  itself  of  its  county  or  contado,  though  it  had  to 
ride  roughshod  over  a  thousand  difficulties;  we  may 


THE   BURGHERS  121 

now  learn  how  that  patriotism  was  steadily  blown  upon 
by  the  merchant  class,  whose  self-interest  was  com- 
pletely identical  with  the  political  passions  of  the 
multitude.  But  to  hold  the  via  francesa,  or  rather  that 
small  part  of  it  which  passed  through  strictly  Sienese 
territory  was  not  easy,  for  the  Florentines  claimed 
Poggibonsi  and  guarded  it  as  the  apple  of  their  eye, 
while  in  the  region  of  San  Quirico,  Siena  met  the  com- 
bined opposition  of  the  city  of  Orvieto,  of  the  great 
feudal  clan  of  the  Aldobrandeschi,  and  of  course,  of 
Florence,  only  too  ready  to  support  her  rival's  enemies 
any  and  everywhere.  In  consequence,  we  may  note 
that  if  we  have  seen  trade  grow  more  humane  by  reason 
of  the  gradual  abandonment  of  reprisals,  the  political 
relations  between  Florence  and  Siena  did  not  therefore 
in  the  least  improve,  because  with  the  quantitative  growth 
of  trade  the  points  of  friction  between  the  two  towns 
became  more  numerous.  It  is  a  melancholy  fact  that 
trade,  which  I  have  just  celebrated,  and  with  undoubted 
justice,  as  the  mother  of  civilization,  is  at  the  same  time 
the  most  fruitful  source,  known  to  history,  of  envy,  war, 
and  every  form  of  mischief.  Florence  and  Siena  were 
impelled  by  reasons  of  trade,  each  to  bring  the  other 
under  its  law,  and  as  Florence  was  the  stronger  and 
more  aggressive  power,  she  was  sure  to  carry  the  conflict 
straight  to  the  via  francesa,  because  only  in  this  way 
could  she  attend  effectively  to  the  clipping  of  her 
neighbor's  wings. 

It  is  therefore  clear  that,  to  follow  the  directions  of 
Sienese  trade  under  the  natural  law  of  expansion,  is  to 
touch  the  regions  where  the  commune  encountered  the 
greatest  resistance  and  engaged  in  its  most  critical  bat- 


122  SIENA 

ties.  The  via  francesa,  effecting  an  approach  to  the 
markets  north  and  south  of  Siena,  was  all-important, 
but  this  one  avenue  was  not  likely  to  exhaust  the  desire 
of  ambitious  merchants.  Having  crossed  the  Alps  and 
acquired  a  world-wide  outlook  in  England  and  the 
Champagne,  they  would  not  fail  to  be  impressed  with 
the  importance  of  the  sea  as  a  universal  highway.  The 
whole  history  of  Florence,  whose  merchants  were  pos- 
sessed of  a  conspicuous  intelligence,  is  a  struggle  to  get 
to  the  Mediterranean,  and  Siena,  although  the  approach 
was  difficult,  was  moved  by  the  same  desire.  Westward 
across  scarped  hills,  following  the  general  direction  of 
the  unnavigable  Ombrone,  lay  the  town  of  Grosseto, 
before  which  coiled,  like  some  vast,  torpid  monster  of 
the  sea,  the  sullen  and  fever-ridden  swamps  of  the 
Maremma.  On  the  sea-edge  of  this  deadly  bog  hung 
a  few  fever-wasted  settlements,  such  as  Orbetello, 
Port'  Ecole,  and  Talamone,  and  one  or  the  other 
of  these,  preferably  Talamone,  it  was  the  patriotic 
dream  of  the  Sienese  to  turn  into  a  seaport,  thus 
opening  an  unimpeded  communication  with  the  outer 
world.  The  plan  involved  as  a  preliminary  step  the 
seizure  of  Grosseto. 

The  story  of  that  acquisition  is  a  typical  chapter  in 
the  expansion  of  the  town  which  boasted  the  favor  of 
the  Virgin.  Grosseto  was  a  dependency  of  the  feudal 
house,  so  often  referred  to,  the  Aldobrandeschi;  in 
measure  as  its  fortunes  waxed,  chiefly  by  reason  of  the 
salt  stores  of  the  neighborhood,  it  aspired  to  emulate  the 
consular  movement  common  to  all  Italy  and  win  political 
independence  from  its  feudal  lords.  Siena,  therefore, 
on  casting  a  covetous  eye  in  that  direction,  would  have 


THE   BURGHERS  123 

to  deal  with  both  the  Aldobrandeschi  and  the  growing 
commune,  impertinently  looking  forward  to  a  career  of 
sovereignty.  With  the  patience  of  a  beast  of  the  thicket 
the  city,  whose  emblem  was  the  wolf,  lay  in  wait  for  its 
prey.  By  various  means  the  Aldobrandeschi  were 
eliminated  from  the  situation;  at  the  same  time,  through 
apparently  harmless  commercial  treaties,*  Grosseto  was 
gradually  drawn  into  the  Sienese  orbit;  and,  finally,  in 
the  ripeness  of  time,  the  grim  wolf  leaped  upon  its 
victim.  The  capture  occurred  in  the  year  1224,  and 
is  inscribed  in  red  letters  in  the  calendar  of  the 
republic.f 

Thus,  gradually,  was  Grosseto  won,  but  like  Montal- 
cino,  Montepulciano,  and  the  other  places  of  the  con- 
tado,  which  had  to  bend  the  neck  to  receive  the  Sienese 
yoke,  it  proved  a  restive  captive.  The  annals  of  the  next 
one  hundred  years  are  full  of  revolts  and  attempted 

*  The  first  treaty  is  of  the  year  1151.  See  Repetti,  "  Dizionario  Geograf- 
ico,"  under  Grosseto. 

f  A  patriotic  son  has  left  an  engaging  description  of  the  triumphant  expedi- 
tion of  his  fellow-citizens  against  Grosseto: 

"  No  one  ever  saw  a  more  beautiful  army.  The  shields,  the  cuirasses,  and 
the  tents  lent  a  lustre  to  all  the  country  round  about  so  that  it  seemed  another 
paradise.  Arrived  near  the  walls  of  the  hostile  city  the  potesta,  full  of  anxiety 
for  the  safety  of  his  people,  ordered  fortifications  to  be  built;  before  they  were 
ready  an  accidental  skirmish  took  place.  Unable  to  recall  his  men,  and  seeing 
them  assaulted  by  the  defenders  from  the  walls  with  an  incessant  shower  of 
arrows,  stones,  beams,  and  every  kind  of  weapon,  he  put  himself  spiritedly  at 
their  head  and  fought  with  death-defying  courage  for  the  honor  of  his  city. 
In  such  manner,  with  the  aid  of  God,  he  won  a  wonderful  victory,  entering  the 
city  with  his  host  and  carrying  away  captive  all  the  men  whom  he  found,  to 
the  eternal  glory  of  Siena  and  to  the  increase  of  her  strength  and  power, 
which  henceforth  extended  as  far  as  the  sea."  And  another  chronicler  adds: 
"Grosseto  was  stormed  on  the  day  of  Saint  Mary  of  September  (the  eighth). 
And  the  host  which  went  there  numbered  3,100  men  between  foot  and  horse. 
And  on  their  return,  for  joy  of  the  victory  gained,  there  was  a  great  festival 
with  a  bonfire,  and  all  the  shops  around  the  Campo  were  shut  up."  Banchi, 
"II  Memoriale  delle  offese  fatte,"  etc.  "Arch.  Stor.  It.,"  Serie  terza,  XXII, 
pp.  226-27. 


124  SIENA 

revolts,  but  regardless  of  cost  and  effort  Siena  held  fast 
to  her  prize  in  the  conviction  that  Grosseto  was  a  neces- 
sary stage  in  the  march  to  the  Mediterranean,  which 
spread  its  blue  waters  not  six  miles  distant  from  the 
walls  of  the  recalcitrant  little  town.  However,  Gros- 
seto, though  it  dominated  a  part  of  the  Tuscan  littoral, 
was  not  itself  a  port.  Hence  the  seaward  ambition  of 
Siena  found  its  natural  culmination  in  the  acquisition, 
in  the  year  1303,  of  the  small  haven  of  Talamone,  also 
originally  a  possession  of  the  great  Maremma  counts. 
From  the  Aldobrandeschi  it  had  passed  into  the  hands 
of  the  abbot  of  San  Salvatore  of  Monte  Amiata,  and 
from  him,  a  man  of  peace,  often  in  need  of  ready  money, 
the  prudent  republic  obtained  its  cession  for  a  round 
sum.  The  purchase  was  much  remarked  in  the  Italian 
world  and  aroused  the  ever  ready  envy  of  Florence. 
The  greatest  of  all  Florentines,  however,  took  a  purely 
ironical  view  of  the  incident.  In  a  biting  passage  * 
Dante  treats  the  idea  of  Siena  becoming  vicariously, 
through  Talamone,  a  seaport,  as  on  a  level  with  that 
other  fancy  of  the  light-headed,  self-deluded  subjects  of 
the  Virgin,  touching  the  hidden  river,  called  Diana. 
Time,  the  incorruptible  judge  of  our  dreams  as  well  as 
of  our  deeds,  has  confirmed  the  correctness  of  the  poet's 
view.  Talamone,  sand-choked  and  fever-ridden,  came 
to  nothing,  and  Grosseto  itself  accordingly  lost  some- 
thing of  its  early  hopeful  look  of  being  a  great  bargain; 
but  as  long  as  the  Sienese  entertained  the  ambition  of 
becoming  an  Italian  power  and  transcending  the  obsta- 
cles of  nature,  they  naturally  linked  Grosseto  and  Tala- 
mone in  a  common  prayer. 

*"Purgatorio,"  XIII,  152. 


Interior  view  of  the  Cathedral 


THE   BURGHERS  125 

Such  is  the  material  story  of  the  doughty  burghers 
who  made  mediaeval  Siena — a  story  revealing  at  every 
stage  the  exercise  of  moral  qualities  which  in  their  sum 
compose  the  picture  of  an  impressive  manhood.  Our 
backward  view  of  the  prolonged  struggle  of  the  citizens 
closes  on  the  sad  reflection  that  all  their  efforts  did  not 
suffice  to  produce  the  hoped-for  result  of  commercial  and 
political  greatness.  For  a  moment  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  from  the  heights  of  Montaperti,  Siena  had  a 
glimpse  of  the  Promised  Land,  but  the  vision  faded  away 
and  the  town  was  thrust  back  behind  provincial  bars. 
Durable  victories  are  not  won  upon  the  battlefield. 
The  gifts  of  the  Sienese  of  one  kind  and  another,  espe- 
cially their  artistic  gifts,  were  as  great  as  could  be  found 
anywhere  in  Tuscany;  their  failure,  if  we  weigh  the 
facts  judicially,  was  due  to  shortcomings  neither  of 
mind  nor  heart,  but  must  be  laid,  primarily  at  least,  to 
the  door  of  certain  physical  conditions,  such  as  the  town's 
situation  high  among  the  hills,  the  dearth  of  water,  the 
difficult  communications,  and  the  poverty  of  the  neigh- 
borhood in  such  articles  as  might  serve  as  the  basis  of 
a  great  industry.  Without  native  manufactures  with 
which  to  trade  on  the  world's  markets,  Sienese  com- 
merce, though  it  began  so  promisingly,  was  doomed  to 
failure  in  the  long  run.  On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the 
drawbacks  of  Siena  obtained  in  the  rich  and  noble  Arno 
valley,  from  the  heart  of  which  the  towers  of  Florence 
rose.  Therefore  a  sketch  of  the  struggle  and  failure  of 
Siena  in  the  field  of  production  and  exchange  becomes 
an  involuntary  apostrophe  to  the  greatness  of  the  city 
of  the  Lily.  Invisible  hands  point  to  her  as  the  predes- 
tined economic  capital  of  Tuscany.  How  with  un- 


126  SIENA 


wavering  persistence  and  with  steady  flame  of  passion 
she  used  her  natural  and  economic  advantages  to  cap 
them  with  a  political  triumph,  it  shall  be  the  object  of  a 
later  chapter  to  make  clear. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE   LAWS   AND   INSTITUTIONS 

IN  speaking,  in  a  previous  chapter,  of  the  rise  of  the 
commune,  I  tried  to  bring  out  the  fact  that  many  gen- 
erations before  it  arrived  at  its  splendid  young  man- 
hood in  the  age  of  the  consuls,  it  had  been  engaged  in 
silent,  groping,  and  uncertain  development  among  the 
older  and  overshadowing  feudal  institutions.  Then 
when  it  rose  into  view  sufficiently  to  permit  a  closer 
examination,  we  noticed  that  it  had  indeed  an  apparent 
democratic  basis,  in  so  far  as  it  rested  upon  the  meeting 
of  the  townsmen  in  the  public  square,  the  so-called 
parlamentum,  but  at  the  same  time  we  became  assured 
that  the  practical  political  power  was  in  the  hands  of  a 
body  of  consuls,  appointed  from  a  small  group  of  noble 
families.  I  now  purpose  to  examine  more  at  leisure 
what  the  consular  government  was  and  what  it  became. 
We  are  agreed  that  the  consular  era  marked  the  happy 
revival  of  self-government  in  the  midst  of  feudal  brutal- 
ity, but  we  should  not  fail  to  see  that  all  the  details  of 
self-government,  such  as  a  suitable  executive,  a  legislative 
assembly  in  touch  with  the  people,  and  an  effective  ad- 
ministrative service,  remained  to  be  worked  out  with 
infinite  trouble  amidst  the  usual  perils  of  revolutionary 
explosions.  As  we  take  up  the  story  of  laborious 
internal  organization,  let  us  remember  that  such  work 

127 


128  SIENA 

furnishes  a  conspicuous  test  of  the  character  and  temper 
of  a  people. 

Throughout  the  twelfth  century  the  work  went  bravely 
on,  a  movement  out  of  chaos  and  darkness  into 
cosmos  and  light.  In  order  to  measure  its  full  signifi- 
cance we  must  start  with  a  clear  perception  of  the  loose 
and  accidental  character  of  the  earliest  institutions  of 
the  commune.  To  illustrate  what  I  have  in  mind  by 
means  of  the  consuls,  I  note  again  that  we  hear  of 
consuls  of  Siena  for  the  first  time  in  the  year  1125, 
though  it  is  very  likely  that  they  were  in  existence  before 
that  date.  Now  the  consuls  of  the  early  twelfth  century 
were  not  a  settled  magistracy,  the  forms  of  which  were 
precisely  defined  by  a  series  of  statutes,  but,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  haphazard  character  of  the  first  measures 
of  the  young  commune,  they  bore  rather  the  aspect  of  a 
temporary  committee,  appointed  to  perform  a  particu- 
lar public  service.  Such  occasional  committees  dis- 
charged every  variety  of  public  business  in  the  early  days, 
and  were  called,  in  Sienese  usage,  balie.  When  the 
particular  affair  for  which  a  balia  was  appointed,  had 
been  attended  to,  the  balia  was  again  dismissed.  But 
much  business,  as  soon  as  men  give  themselves  a  govern- 
ment, being  constant  or  at  least  recurrent,  the  balia 
tended  to  establish  itself,  that  is,  the  temporary  committee 
showed  an  inclination  to  be  converted  into  a  permanent 
magistracy.  This  movement  was  hardly  well  under 
way  when  the  advantage  appeared  of  defining  as  pre- 
cisely as  possible  the  functions  of  the  new  officials  in  a 
document  which  might  serve  as  a  guide  to  their  conduct, 
and  upon  which  they  might  be  required  to  take  the  oath 
of  office.  This  document  received  the  name  of  breve. 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       129 

Such  is  the  genesis  of  the  consulship:  originally  only  a 
temporary  committee  or  balia,  it  developed  a  breve, 
which  grew,  by  additions,  into  a  formal  body  of  statutes 
regulating  the  city  executive.  And  on  this  order  was 
the  genesis  of  every  other  communal  institution.  Of 
course  the  new  commonwealth  required  a  department 
of  justice  to  further  peace  and  order  among  the  citizens. 
The  earliest  town  courts  were  tentative  creations,  that 
is,  balie.  .Hence  they  were  dissolved  and  again  estab- 
lished until,  under  the  pressure  of  social  necessity,  they 
became  fixed  and  permanent.  At  the  same  time,  be- 
ginning with  a  few  regulations  laid  down  in  a  breve, 
they  gradually  came  to  rest  upon  an  elaborate  corpus 
of  statutes  and  enactments.  Administrative  com- 
mittees, appointed  to  look  after  the  revenues,  the  walls, 
the  fountains,  and  other  public  services,  were  not  lacking 
from  very  early  times,  and  though  clothed  at  first,  like 
the  consuls  and  the  courts,  with  a  provisional  character, 
they  would  tend,  like  them,  to  become  permanent  magis- 
tracies, carefully  regulated  by  means  of  brevi. 

Presently  among  so  many  and  diverse  beginnings  the 
need  made  itself  felt  of  adjustment  and  unification. 
There  were  now  many  offices  of  more  or  less  accidental 
origin,  and  each  office  had  in  its  breve  an  effective  con- 
stitution, but  there  was  no  general  constitution  of  the 
commune.  By  throwing  the  brevi  together  and  carry- 
ing through  a  dovetailing  of  their  articles  and  powers 
that  desideratum  could  be  attained  without  great  effort. 
It  is  by  such  contributions  from  many  streams  that 
Siena  acquired  a  constitution,  a  composite  instrument 
of  which  we  hear  for  the  first  time  in  the  year  1179.* 

*Zdekauer,  "II  Constitute  .  .  .  dell'  anno  1262,"  Introduction,  p.  XIV. 


130  SIENA 

Doubtless  it  is  older  than  that,  just  as  it  is  highly  proba- 
ble that  there  were  consuls  before  1125.  The  date  of 
the  constitution  is  of  little  importance  compared  with  the 
understanding  of  the  process  by  which  it  came  to  be. 
Just  as  the  stable  magistracy  developed  by  logical  stages 
from  the  ephemeral  balia,  so  the  constitution  has  its 
roots  in  the  several  brevi  defining  the  various  offices. 

The  fashioning  of  a  written  constitution  marks  the 
passage  from  political  unconsciousness  to  consciousness, 
from  unsettled  youth  to  disciplined  manhood.  What 
the  constitution  of  Siena  was,  and,  more  particularly, 
what  the  institutions  were  with  which  it  adorned  the 
state,  we  shall  examine  presently  at  the  hand  of  the 
remarkable  copy  of  the  year  1262,  which  is  preserved  in 
the  Sienese  archive  and  has  been  edited  in  exemplary 
fashion  by  Professor  Zdekauer.*  However,  before  I 
take  it  up,  I  wish  to  examine  the  local  class  and  party 
struggle,  without  which  we  can  not  possibly  put  our- 
selves in  touch  with  the  true  spirit  of  Sienese  public 
life  nor  catch  the  individual  profile  of  each  municipal 
office. 

(A)      THE    SOCIAL   MOVEMENT 

With  the  birth  of  the  commune  the  theoretical  sover- 
eignty'oTtfieTtaTian  cities  is,  by  most  writers,  declared 
to~Tiave  been_transrerred  to  the  people  assembled  in 
public  meeting,  that  is,  to  the  institution  called  parla- 

*  "II  Constitute  del  Comune  di  Siena  dell'  anno  1262."  This  work  is  an 
inexhaustible  storehouse  of  fact,  bearing  upon  every  phase  of  thirteenth-cent- 
ury life.  Two  broad  avenues  of  approach  to  it  have  been  driven  by  the 
editor  in  two  studies,  the  first  offered  as  an  Introduction  to  the  Constitution, 
the  second,  a  published  lecture  to  be  found  among  the  "Conferenze"  issued 
by  the  Commissione  Senese  di  Storia  Patria  for  1897.  The  present  chapter 
is  greatly  indebted  to  these  lucid  studies. 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       131 

mentum.  Without  quarreling  with  the  theory  we  may 
rest_assured  that  the  practical  authority,  in  Siena  at 
leajjtj  rested  elsewhere  The  people,  assembled  in  the 
square  before  the  cathedral  at  the  bidding  of  the  magis- 
trates, participated  in  a  general  way  in  politics  by  having 
treaties  communicated  to  them  and  by  receiving  the  sub- 
missions of  conquered  noblemen,  but  they  did  not 
govern.  That  privilege  was  exercised  exclusively  by  a 
small  circle  of  ancient  and  welUto-cIo  families,  from 
ajnong  whom  the  consuls  were  regularly  elected.  The 
consular  regime  was  therefore  essentially  an  oligarchy. 
Such  a  system  was  possible  because  the  upper  class  had 
mainly  created  and  defended  the  commune,  and  be- 
cause, possessed  of  wealth,  vigor,  and  superior  intelli- 
gence, it  found  no  difficulty  in  dominating  the  noisy  and 
disorganized  parliament.  The  consuls  presently  sur- 
rounded themselves  with  a  council,  called  the  Council 
of  the  Bell,  which,  being  of  more  practicable  size  than 
the  parliament,  handled  the  business  of  the  city  with 
dispatch  and  made  the  general  assembly  of  the  citizens 
more  superfluous  than  ever.  Naturally  the  Council 
of  the  Bell  marched  under  the  same  aristocratic  banner 
as  the  consuls.  The  rule  of  the  people  would  be  carried 
from  theory  into  the  realm  of  reality  only  when  the 
masses  had  acquired  sufficient  economic  independence 
and  political  ambition  to  organize  as  a  popular  party 
for  the  express  purpose  of  capturing  the  offices.  I 
pointed  out  in  another  place*  that  in  the  year  1212  there 
was,  according  to  the  chronicler,  "great  enmity  between 
people  and  nobles,"  an  unmistakable  revolutionary  dis- 
turbance; in  the  next  year  (1213)  we  have  our  first  refer- 

*  Chapter  II,  p.  70. 


132  SIENA 


ence  to  the  existence  of  a  popular  party,  a  societas 
®  populi  senensis.*  This  body  was  probably  the  common 

£  army  of  Siena  organized  for  political  purposes.  In  this 
p  connection  it  is  important  to  recollect  that,  ^all  through 

*     the  twelfth  century,  the  army,  composed  of  the  whole 

a  —  ./..»..  ...  —  j_±  —  ™™j:  —  —        -      ....... 

t     citizen  body,  was  in  existence,  that  it  was  mobilizedfor 

^  ••••••'•  ••"!•••'••«  •!«•»•.*•  HMI  ilt*  •^[•••••••miniin      >•••*  •^^»,—  ^-.T-^^f-.  r-n,.-..   i         ,     •.    n    ••  —    -.    •  '      •  ••    f>  .       '    n>«.^.^...         i      HH»M      i        tf*. 

a  a  particular  end,  usually  the  overthrow  of  a  neighboring 
castle,  and  that,  the  campaign  overr  it  was  a^ain  dis- 
""^  solvej^.  While_the  upper  class  constituted  the  knights 
or  milites^  who  rode  on  horseback,  the  citizen  mass 
-*  made  up  the  pedites  or  foot-soldiers.  Together  they 
marched  out  of  the  gates  when  the  war  banner  was  un- 
furled, but  just  as  the  milites  in  that  display  outshone 
the  pedites,  so  they  towered  above  their  humble  neigh- 
bors in  political  influence.  Nevertheless,  though  docile 
at  first,  the  people  would  soon  feel  the  power  which  was 
theirs  by  reason  of  their  numbers,  and  would  strive  to 
turn  it  to  advantage.  Slowly  the  common  longing  of 
dumb  thousands  would  create  a  leader,  and  from  his 
efforts  would  result  an  organization,  which  we  may 
designate  as  the  political  counterpart  of  the  ancient 
military  union  of  the  people. 

By  some  such  process  the  societas  populi  senensis  of 
1213  must  have  come  into  being,  but  since,  in  the  ab- 
sence of  documents,  we  are  not  justified  in  pressing  the 
matter  of  origin,  let  us  content  ourselves  in  fixing  the 
significance  of  the  accomplished  fact.  Undeniably  the 
phenomenon  means  that  byttie  ^^  beginning  of  the  thir- 
teenth  century_the  masses  had  reached  a  conscious 
pplitical  purposeand  had  organized  into  a  party  aiming 
at  control^  Therefore  a  struggle  followedr  a  struggle 

*Zdekauer,  "II  Constitute,"  etc.     Introduction,  p.  XLIII. 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       133 

between  the  new  elements  calling  themselves  the  people 
^/VjWjWo)  and  the  upper  class  in  possession,  referred  to 
variously  as  magnati,  grandi,  and  cives  majores.  My 
task  is  to  show  how,  moving  onward  inch  by  inch  under 
an  irresistible  momentum,  the  people  gradually  dis- 
placed the  oligarchs  from  every  post  of  influence,  until 
atlast,  by  a  general  decree,  characteristic  of  a  resentful 
and  exultant  victory,  they  excluded  the  former  rulers 
from  all  participation  in  public  life.. 

In  the  conflict  between  oligarchs  and  masses,  thus 
inaugurated  with  the  thirteenth  century,  the  replace- 
ment of  the  consuls  as  chief  executive  by  the  potesta  is 
of  little  consequence.  It  is  prudent  to  dispose  of  this 
incident  before  plunging  deeper  into  the  social  struggle. 
In  the  year  1199,  for  the  usual  multiple  executive  was 
substituted  a  single  man,  plainly  a  step  in  the  direction 
of  greater  concentration  of  power.  For  some  years  after 
1199  there  was  an  uncertain  practice  in  Siena  with 
regard  to  the  chief  executive,  until,  beginning  with  the 
year  1211,  we  have  regularly  the  potestas  foretaneu s,  the 
foreign  potesta,  installed  for  one  year.  The  men  of  the 
Council  who  called  him  belonged  to  or  sympathized 
with  the  dominant  caste;  they  gravitated  naturally 
toward  a  person  of  their  own  social  level,  preferably 
from  Bologna,  Modena,  or  some  other  town  as  far 
removed  as  possible  from  the  interests  and  passions  of 
Siena;  and,  after  he  came,  they  constituted  themselves 
his  advisers,  or  rather,  from  more  than  one  point  of 
view,  his  lords  and  keepers.  His  entrance  upon  the 
scene  marked  no  immediate  displacement  of  political 
power,  although  it  is  clear  that  the  crowding  of  the  local 
nobles  out  of  the  highest  dignity  in  the  town  must  have 


134  SIENA 

made  room  for  a  freer  unfolding  of  popular  energy. 
The  fact  that  our  earliest  evidence  of  political  unrest 
among  the  people  belongs  to  the  period  just  subsequent 
to  the  coming  of  the  potesta  may  be  taken  as  a  sign  that 
the  monopoly  of  the  oligarchs  was  looked  upon  as 
weakened. 

For  several  decades  after  our  first  proof  of  the  exist- 
ence of  a  popular  party  we  lose  sight  of  it  again.  Very 
likely  it  did  not  succeed  immediately  in  making  itself 
felt  in  the  public  life  of  the  town.  It  had  powerful 
opponents;  it  lacked  experience;  and  it  had  still  to 
perfect  its  organization.  If  practical  advantages  were 
to  be  obtained  this  last  point  was  particularly  important, 
and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  received  unremitting  attention 
until,  toward  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the 
organizing  work  was  crowned  by  the  people  giving 
themselves  a  single  head  under  the  title  of  captain.* 
As  with  the  captain  of  the  people  was  associated  a 
council  of  the  people,  it  became  plain  that  the  societas 
populi  senensis  was  shaping  its  institutions  according  to 
the  model  furnished  by  the  commune  with  its  potesta 
and  Council  of  the  Bell.  However,  even  before  the 
society  reached  its  final  and  effective  form,  it  won  an 
immensely  significant  victory,  for  in  the  year  1240  the 
potesta,  though  retained  as  a  sort  of  honorary  sovereign 
with  important  representative  functions,  was  deprived 
of  the  political  direction  of  the  city;  this  responsibility 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  twenty-four  citizens  (/ 
Pentiquattro),  and,  what  is  particularly  worthy  of 
remark,  one-half  of  the  Twenty-four  were  required  to 

*  We  get  our  first  news  of  a  captain  of  the  people  in  1253.     Muratori,  XV, 
"Cronica  Sanese,"  ad  annum. 


2 
•o 

.c 

u 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       135 

be  of  the  party  of  the  people.*  The  revolution  of  tfye, 
year  1240,  therefore,  established  a  political  partnership 
between  nobility  and  commoners.  Indications  are  not 
wanting  which  point  to  the  conclusion  that  the  con- 
servatives in  power  did  not  yield  gracefully  to  the  new 
order  of  things,  and  that  it  required  long  and  loud 
clamor  at  the  gates  before  the  people's  party  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  citadel.  But,  the  first  success  won,  that 
party  proceeded  with  the  remorseless  tenacity  which 
has  always  characterized  a  pushing  democracy,  to  fol- 
low up  its  initial  victory.  Wedging  its  way  into  one 
communal  dignity  after  another,  it  had  by  the  year  1262 
succeeded  in  carrying  a  measure  to  the  effect  that  one- 
half  of  the  holders  of  all  offices  must  be  popolam.^ 
When  we  observe  by  a  perusal  of  the  great  constitution 
of  this  same  year  that  the  captain  of  the  people,  symbol 
and  gauge  of  popular  influence,  ranked  with  the  potesta 
as  a  political  factor,  remaining  inferior  to  him  only  in  the 
subtle  matter  of  prestige,  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the 
extent  of  the  popular  triumph.  The  people  had  built 
up  a  party  of  commoners  to  effect  the  capture  of  the  com- 
mune, and,  after  a  struggle  of  half  a  century,  the  move- 
ment had  advanced  so  far  that  the  ruling  class  had  been 
everywhere  obliged  to  let  the  upstart  representatives 
of  the  people  make  themselves  comfortable  at  its  side. 

The  rule  of  the  Twenty-four,  representing  a  compro- 
mise between  the  nobility  and  the  people,  lasted  for  a 
period  of  just  thirty  years,  from  1240  to  1270.  This 
period  is  not  only  coincident  with  what  is  perhaps  the 

*Salvemini  ("Archivio  Stor.  It.,"  Serie  V,  Vol.  XXI,  571  /.)  defends  an 
interesting,  but  not  conclusive,  proposition  to  the  effect  that  the  Twenty-four 
were  wholly  of  the  party  of  the  people. 

t  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  I,  518. 


136  SIENA 

climax  of  the  whole  Italian  Middle  Age,  but  it  also  con- 
ducted Siena  to  the  summit  of  her  political  destiny, 
disclosing  to  her  for  a  moment  an  outlook  as  wide  and 
intoxicating  as  was  ever  scanned  by  Venice  or  Florence. 
The  life  of  the  Twenty-four  covers  the  last  act  in  the 
tragedy  of  the  Hohenstaufen.  By  taking  the  Ghibelline 
sid£  with  conviction  and  enthusiasm,  the  Twenty-four 
shared  the  victories  won  by  Frederick  II  and  his  de- 
scendants, Manfred_  and  Conradin,  and  inevitably^ 
when  Jatejfaially  declared  against  the  imperial  charn- 
pions,  went  down  with  them  in  a  common  defeat.  The 
fact  that  the  Twenty-four,  who  mark  a  temporary  union 
of  oligarchs  and  commoners,  followed  this  policy,  proves 
that  the  unanimous  sentiment  of  the  citizens  supported 
the  Ghibelline  cause.  This  momentary  domestic  har- 
mony makes  the  rule  of  this  particular  government  one 
of  the  happy  incidents  of  Sienese  history,  and  accounts 
in  part  for  the  great  victory  won  at  Montaperti  (1260) 
against  Florence  and  the  Guelphs.  For  a  tremulous 
moment  after  her  sweeping  triumph  Siena  held  Tuscany 
in  her  hand.  If,  as  sages  and  poets  have  told  us,  it 
behooves  men  to  fill  the  cup  of  life  to  the  brim  and  empty 
it  to  the  lees,  the  fever  and  triumph,  associated  with 
Frederick  and  Manfred  and  Montaperti,  were  worth 
while  even  at  the  price  of  the  awful  fall  which  followed. 
Disaster,  after  several  vain  threats,  closed  definitely 
about  the  city,  when  the  boy  Conradin,  last  of  his  line, 
was  defeated  in  the  year  1268,  and  on  the  great  market- 
place of  Naples,  in  the  sight  of  the  court  of  the  French 
usurper  and  the  massed  multitude  of  commoners,  had 
his  head  severed  from  his  body  by  the  executioner's  axe. 
From  that  moment  the  Ghibelline  doom  was  sealed  and 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       137 

Siena's  brief  dream  of  empire  vanished  in  air.  The 
Twenty-four,  sponsors  of  a  Ghibelline  policy,  did  not 
quail  before  the  storm  which  now  broke  over  them. 
They  met  the  Guelph  onslaught  at  Colle  (1269),  where 
the  sentence  of  Montaperti  was  reversed.  Siena  had  to 
become  Guelph  or  be  obliterated.  The  first  step  in  the 
city's  recantation  was  the  snuffing  out  of  the  Twenty-four. 

To  Manfred  and  Montaperti,  as  well  as  to  Colle  and 
the  Guelph  triumph,  I  shall  return  in  the  next  chapter. 
I  have  introduced  them  here  to  explain  the  greatness  and 
fall  of  the  Twenty-four  and  to  render  intelligible  the 
inner  changes  that  signalized  the  passage  of  Siena  from 
the  Ghibelline  to  the  Guelph  side.  This  was  a  gradual 
process,  much  delayed  by  plots  and  disturbances,  until 
the  trading  elements  of  Siena  made  up  their  mind 
firmly  that  there  was  no  salvation  for  the  material 
interests  outside  the  alliance  with  the  victorious  church. 
Then  the  merchants  resolutely  took  control.  In  carry- 
ing through  their  Guelph  programme  they  discovered 
no  need  for  greatly  altering  the  institutions;  their  prin- 
cipal measure  was  to  give  the  political  direction  into  the 
hands  of  a  group  of  partisans,  business  men  and 
Guelphs.  The  number  of  members  constituting  this 
committee  fluctuated  for  a  time — we  hear  on  one  occa- 
sion of  Thirty-six,  on  another  of  Fifteen — until  it  was 
finally  fixed  at  Nine.  The  new  governing  committee — 
Li  Signori  Nove  Governatori  e  Difenditori  del  Comune  e 
del  Popolo  di  Siena — exercised  much  the  same  sort  of 
power  as  the  defunct  Twenty-four,  and,  becoming  a 
fixture  in  the  year  1292,  ruled  the  city  for  more  than 
sixty  years. 

The  Nine  sound  a  perfectly  definite  note  in  the  history 


138  SIENA 

of  Siena.  They  mark  the  adoption  by  the  city  of  a 
Guelph  foreign  policy,  in  sober  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  henceforth  there  was  security  only  in  the  camp  of 
the  church.  But  that  is  not  all:  they  signify  also  the 
final  stage  in  the  conquest  of  the  commune  by  the 
people.  During  the  recent  passionate  struggle  the  no- 
bility and  commoners  had  been  united  by  a  general 
Ghibelline  sentiment.  The  domestic  harmony  was 
consecrated  by  the  Twenty-four,  made  up  in  equal  pro- 
portion of  representatives  of  the  two  groups.  But  class 
rivalry  continued  under  the  surface,  and  the  catastrophe 
of  Conradin  had  no  sooner  drawn  the  ground  from 
under  the  Twenty-four  than  the  local  disturbances 
flared  up  more  intolerably  than  ever.  Thereupon  the 
merchants,  resolved  on  peace  at  all  costs,  seized  the 
power,  their  victory  finally  crystallizing  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Nine.  As  the  merchants  represented  the 
old  societas  populi  senensis,  not  content  with  declaring 
prudently  for  the  church,  they  now  resolved  to  crown  the 
ambition  of  their  party  and  complete  the  capture  of  the 
commune.  Accordingly  they  declared  the  nobility 
ineligible  to  office,  reserving  all  positions  of  influence  to 
themselves.  It  was  a  violent  measure,  which,  though  of 
doubtful  wisdom,  was  yet  not  without  a  grim  sort  of 
political  logic.  Since  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth 
century  the  people  had  demanded  participation  in  the 
government  only  to  be  thwarted  at  every  point  by  the 
selfish  oligarchs.  None  the  less  by  the  middle  of  the 
century  they  had  made  important  progress,  and,  under 
the  Twenty-four,  weighed  as  much  in  the  scales  as  the 
old  rulers.  But  as  commerce  and  industry  were  giving 
an  increasing  significance  to  the  productive  workers  with 


THE   LAWS  AND  INSTITUTIONS       139 

each  new  year,  it  was  likely  that  they  would  demand 
increasing  recognition,  nay,  press  their  claims  to  the 
point  of  an  absolute  triumph.  This  uncompromising 
j>olic£  the  merchants  carried  through,  thus  coupling  with 
the  Guelph  alliance  in  the  foreign  field  a  local  demo- 
cratic victory.* 

It  was  in  the  year  1277  that  Siena  adopted  the  measure 
which  turned  the  tables  upon  the  nobility.  On  the  28th 
of  May  a  motion  was  passed  in  the  General  Council  to 
the  effect  that  the  grandi  should  be  henceforth  and  for- 
ever excluded  from  the  supreme  magistracy  of  the  re- 
public.f  Agreed  that  the  measure  was  intelligible 
enough  in  view  of  the  passions  developed  by  the  long 
domestic  struggle,  it  was  none  the  less  in  the  highest 
degree  regrettable  by  reason  of  its  breeding  in  the  nobil- 
ity a  justifiable  and  rancorous  aversion  against  the 
democratic  regime.  The  magnates  of  Siena  were 
indeed  a  difficult  urban  element,  but  they  were  not 
entirely  feudal,  for  they  had  gone  into  trade,  and  the 
great  commercial  companies,  named  for  such  families  as 
the  Salimbeni,  the  Tolomei,  the  Malavolti,  and  the 
Piccolomini,  were  one  of  the  main  sources  of  the  city's 

*  Lack  of  space  makes  it  necessary  to  treat  the  struggle  which  preceded 
the  overthrow  Of  the"  "magnates  in  the  above  summary  fashion.  I  must, 
however,  not  fail  to  observe  that  the  victory  of  the  popolo  was  much 

~~~~  — * -        -  -  I          I    I     _    L       ..     _          _•         II  '•  »' 1, Pi         »l  '  jy"l f" • 

helped  ir^  Siena  as  elsewhere  by  the  division  of  the  nobility  into  the  two 
groups  of  (juelphs'  and  Ghibellihes.  As  early  as  1262  the  Guelph  nobles. 
though  a  mmontyL  engaged  in street  riots,  which  ended' in  the  first  ^reat 
eaDdus~7rom~tn"e  city.  The  exodus  was  a  common  weapon  of  party 
warfare.  On  the  (juelDh~GJubeIline  conflict  of  1262  see  Muratori,  "Croqjca 
Sariese,"  XV,  33,  and  Davidsohn's  comment,  "Geschichte  von  Florenz,"  II1, 
p.  538.  The  incident  serves  admirably  to  explain  the  various  reasons  why 
the  nobilfty  could  not  be  trusted  with  the  government  of  a  democratic 
community. 

t  Archivio  di  Stato.  "  Consiglio  Generale  della  Campana."  Deliberazoni 
ad  annum. 


140  SIENA 

prosperity.  It  is  perhaps  an  erroneous  opinion  that,  by 
the  adoption  of  a  more  generous  policy,  this  class  would, 
in  the  course  of  time,  have  been  fused  with  the  people 
into  a  truly  democratic  society;  it  admits  of  no  dispute 
that  the  policy  of  exclusion  was  the  worst  that  could 
possibly  have  been  adopted,  since  by  feeding  the  auda- 
cious self-will  of  the  nobles  with  a  genuine  grievance, 
it  created  a  condition  of  latent  revolt  and  threw  Siena 
upon  an  interminable  sick-bed. 

(B)      THE    INSTITUTIONS 

I  have  already  said  that  the  victory  of  the  people, 
won  toward  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  did  not 
greatly  alter  the  city's  institutions.  Originally  the 
offices  had  been  filled  by  the  nobles;  then  they  were 
shared  between  nobles  and  people;  and,  after  the  exclu- 
sion act  of  1277,  they  were  appropriated,  if  not  by  the 
people,  at  least  by  the  upper  stratum  of  the  people, 
the  trading  bourgeoisie.  But,  whoever  possessed  the 
offices,  their  form  remained  essentially  unchanged. 
The  fact  was  that  the  institutions  of  Siena  were  to  all 
intents  complete  before  the  people  carried  their  victory 
to  its  uncompromising  conclusion.  Exactly  what  these 
institutions  were  is  disclosed  by  the  Sienese  constitution, 
the  genesis  of  which  I  have  attempted  to  explain.  With 
the  copy  of  the  year  1262,  the  earliest  version  preserved 
by  the  chances  of  time,  before  us,  we  are  enabled  to 
reconstruct  the  whole  machinery  of  Sienese  public  life. 
Eschewing  so  ambitious  a  project,  I  shall  content  myself 
with  isolating  for  observation  and  remark  some  of  the 
more  important  features  of  the  local  political  system. 


THE  LAWS  AND  INSTITUTIONS       141 

As  already  stated,  some  students  hold  the  view  that 
no  sooner  did  the  young  republic  of  Siena  usurp  the 
functions  of  government  than  the  theoretical  sovereignty 
passed  from  the  empire  and  emperor  to  the  body  of 
citizens  assembled  in  parlamentum.  The  parliament, 
however,  in  no  sense  governed,  wherefore  the  practical 
sovereignty  soon  centred  in  the  Council  of  the  Bell. 
There  are  traces  in  the  constitution  that  the  parliament, 
though  obsolescent  by  the  year  1262,  was  still  looked 
upon  as  a  potential  factor  in  the  life  of  the  city,  but,  as 
the  Council  of  the  Bell  did  not  wish  to  imperil  its  own 
supremacy,  it  took  care  to  bury  the  general  assembly  in 
oblivion  by  never  calling  it  together.  Whoever  peruses 
the  constitution  will  readily  convince  himself  that  the 
Council  of  the  Bell  is  the  real  core  of  the  Sienese  state. 
He  will  learn  that  it  was  composed  usually  of  about 
three  hundred  members,  distributed  equally  among  the 
three  terzi  or  sections  of  the  city,  that  the  potesta  was  its 
presiding  official,  and  that  its  session  was  legal  only  if  a 
general  summons  had  been  made  by  the  ringing  of  a 
bell.  When  the  campana  del  consiglio  raised  its  metallic 
voice,  audible  far  beyond  the  circumference  of  the  walls, 
three  hundred  men  abandoned  ledger,  shop,  and  fire- 
side to  wend  their  way  to  the  church  of  San  Cristofano, 
which  in  1262,  and  for  some  years  after,  still  did  service 
as  a  city  hall.  Not  only  such  matters  as  the  voting  of 
moneys,  the  making  of  laws,  and  the  decision  over  peace 
and  war,  but  also  the  election  of  the  potesta  and  all 
officials  whatsoever  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  Council. 
Such  powers  indicate  unquestioned  sovereignty. 

Of  the  many  committees  of  the  Council  of  the  Bell 
I  shall  speak  only  of  one,  very  characteristic  of  this 


142  SIENA 

formative  period,  the  so-called  Thirteen  Guardians  of 
the  Constitution  (/  Tredici  Emendatori).  They  had 
special  charge  of  the  body  of  statutes,  with  the  duty  not 
only  of  incorporating  with  them  the  new  laws  passed 
by  the  Council,  but  also  of  proposing  such  changes  in  the 
machinery  of  the  state  as  appeared  to  them  desirable. 
For  the  purpose  of  giving  their  undivided  attention  to 
the  subject,  they  went  every  year,  for  a  period  of  not 
more  than  eight  days,  into  a  kind  of  religious  retreat. 
The  ripe  fruit  of  their  deliberations  was  presented  to  the 
Council  in  the  form  of  constitutional  amendments  to 
accept  or  reject  as  that  body  saw  fit.* 

In  the  year  1262  the  chief  official  of  the  state,  clothed 
by  the  Council  of  the  Bell  with  full  executive  authority, 
was  still  the  potesta,  though  his  authority  was  by  no 
means  what  it  had  been  when  the  office  was  first  insti- 
tuted half  a  century  earlier.  In  his  first  period  the 
potesta  not  only  influenced  legislation  by  sitting  with  the 
Thirteen  Guardians  of  the  Constitution,  but  was  per- 
mitted of  his  own  authority  to  fix  the  height  of  the  fines 
by  which  the  citizens  compounded  certain  transgressions 
of  the  law.  By  the  middle  of  the  century  (1250)  he  had 
been  deprived  of  all  such  powers  of  personal  initiative 
and  been  reduced  strictly  to  the  terms  of  an  executive 
official.  Other  circumstances,  already  touched  upon, 
contributed  to  the  diminution  of  his  importance.  The 
steady  rise  of  the  people's  party  had  brought  their  leader, 
called  the  captain  of  the  people,  forward,  with  the  result 
that  the  constitution  of  1262  names  him  as  the  potesta's 
alternate  in  leading  the  armed  host,  and  puts  him  on  a 
level  with  the  potesta  in  many  other  respects.  Further, 

*  See  what  amounts  to  their  breve  in  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  I,  137-148. 


The  Palazzo  Pubblico 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       143 

the  fact  that  the  political  direction  of  the  government 
had  passed,  by  the  revolution  of  the  year  1240,  to  a  com- 
mittee of  citizens  called  the  Twenty-four,  effectively 
reduced  the  stature  of  the  chief  official.  The  constitu- 
tion of  1262  still  does  full  honor  to  him  as  head  of  the 
commune  and  successor  of  the  consuls:  he  is  endowed 
with  the  insignia  of  sovereignty;  he  moves  with  elabo- 
rate state  through  the  city;  he  presides  over  the  highest 
municipal  court;  he  may,  provided  the  Council  does 
not  prefer  the  captain  of  the  people,  lead  the  local  army 
in  war;  nevertheless  he  is  a  waning  and  not  a  growing 
power  in  the  commune. 

Though  the  constitution  of  1262  undeniably  declares 
that  the  potesta's  decline  has  begun,  this  process  was 
greatly  accelerated  in  the  generation  immediately  fol- 
lowing. Before  the  end  of  the  century,  not  only  was  he 
entirely  relieved  of  any  connection  and  responsibility 
toward  the  army,  but  the  Nine,  heirs  and  successors  of 
the  Twenty-four,  dropped  all  concealment  and  stepped 
forth  openly  into  the  light  of  day  as  the  real  governors 
of  the  city.  Therewith  the  potesta  vanished  from  the 
purely  political  story  of  Siena,  though  in  the  chapters 
dealing  with  justice  and  administration  he  still  loomed 
large  for  some  generations  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  he 
continued  to  be  appointed  to  preside  over  the  leading 
communal  court  and,  at  the  same  time,  acted  as  the 
court's  executive  official. 

Having  touched  upon  the  evolution  of  the  potesta  we 
are  prepared  to  attend  to  the  characteristic  features  of 
his  office,  as  it  was  exercised  through  the  greater  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century.  The  first  section  of  the  consti- 
tution of  1262  (Distinctio  I)  is  devoted  largely  to  him 


144  SIENA 

and  his  duties.  We  there  learn  that  he  was  elected  by  a 
very  complicated  process  in  the  Council  of  the  Bell; 
that  he  was  to  be  preferably,  though  not  necessarily,  a 
foreigner;  that  his  term  of  office  lasted  for  one  year; 
that  he  had  to  be  in  Siena  on  the  first  of  November,  in 
order  to  familiarize  himself  with  his  duties,  which  began 
on  January  first.  As  the  commune  had  only  just  made 
a  beginning  toward  providing  itself  with  buildings  for 
its  functionaries,  the  potesta  was  obliged  to  occupy  a 
private  house,  being  authorized  to  pay  a  rental  for  it  of 
XL.  librce  et  non  plus.*  Among  many  additional  de- 
tails none  are  so  curious  as  those  which  minutely  regu- 
late his  private  conduct.  He  was  indeed  surrounded 
with  ceremony  and  rewarded  with  an  ample  stipend,  but, 
in  return,  he  could  bring  only  a  certain  number  of  care- 
fully specified  persons  with  him  in  his  suite  and  had  to 
submit  to  petty,  not  to  say  ludicrous,  rules,  prescribing 
his  guests  at  table  and  the  very  hour  of  his  retirement 
at  night.  The  fact  was  the  stout  burghers,  who  gave 
themselves  the  foreign  potesta  as  ruler,  were  devoured 
with  the  suspicion  that  he  might  transform  his  elective 
dignity  into  a  tyranny,  and  controlled  his  every  move- 
ment as  a  guarantee  against  conspiracies  and  as  a 
necessary  safeguard  of  their  newly  won  and  precious 
liberties. 

No  less  important  than  the  executive  provisions  are 
the  administrative  arrangements  of  Siena  as  revealed 
by  the  constitution  of  1262.  The  document  informs  us 
that  the  business  of  the  city  was  largely  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  four  men,  called  Proweditori.  Like  the 
potesta,  they  were  elected  by  the  Council  of  the  Bell,  to 

*  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  I,  158. 


THE   LAWS  AND   INSTITUTIONS       145 

which,  too,  they  were  responsible  for  the  conduct  of 
their  office.  They  comprised  essentially  a  department 
of  the  treasury  in  charge  of  the  revenues  and  expendi- 
tures of  the  state,  exercising,  in  addition,  a  general  con- 
trol over  many  minor  administrative  services.*  Their 
account  books,  beginning  with  the  year  1226,  are  extant, 
constituting  a  source  of  invaluable  information  touching 
dress,  customs,  commerce,  and  an  endless  variety  of  facts 
illustrating  the  state  of  Sienese  civilization. f  A  house 
attached  to  the  church  of  San  Pellegrino  and  used  for 
their  official  residence  bore,  for  an  unexplained  reason, 
the  name  Biccherna,  and  la  Biccherna  became  in  popu- 
lar usage  the  term  of  reference  to  the  office  of  the  Four. 
Their  secretary  was  called  camarlingo,  and  in  the  early 
period  of  the  republic  was  frequently,  because  of  the 
reputation  of  honesty  attaching  to  his  cloth,  a  Cistercian 
monk  from  the  great  abbey  of  San  Galgano  in  the  Merse 
valley.  A  charming  memorial  of  this  secretary  and  his 
four  superiors  is  preserved  in  the  Piccolomini  palace, 
the  splendid  structure  of  Pope  Pius  II,  which  serves  at 
present  as  the  home  of  the  Sienese  archives.  To  appreci- 
ate this  memorial  we  must  acquaint  ourselves  with  the 
custom  of  the  Biccherna  to  file  away  its  accounts  within 
a  pair  of  stout  wooden  covers,  which,  moved  by  the  love 
of  art  characteristic  of  the  time,  it  commissioned  some 
local  painter  to  grace  with  a  design  in  color.  Many  of 
these  covers  have  been  preserved,  all  more  or  less  signifi- 
cant, and  affording  in  their  sum  a  rarely  intimate  and 

*  The  duties  of  the  Proweditori  are  described  in  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  I, 
381.  On  their  origin  see  Introduction,  p.  xxi  ff. 

t  The  Commissione  Senese  di  Storia  Patria  has  begun  the  publication  of 
these  account  books  under  the  name  Libri  dell'  Entrata  e  dell"  Uscita  della 
Repubblica  di  Siena.  Thus  far  (1908)  two  volumes  have  appeared. 


146  SIENA 

immediate  view  of  a  vanished  world.  A  visit  to  them, 
where  they  hang  in  a  rarely  trodden  corridor  of  the  great 
papal  palace,  builds  the  road  to  yesterday  with  audible 
whispers  of  the  by-gone  years.  We  see  the  coats  of 
arms  of  former  Provveditori,  which  are  often  splendid 
designs  in  mediaeval  heraldry,  the  Virgin  in  the  very  act 
of  protecting  her  city  in  some  grave  crisis  of  war  or 
pestilence,  and,  often,  the  figure  of  a  white-clad,  shrewd- 
faced  monk,  bending  over  a  book  of  figures — our 
camarlingo.* 

Many  special  studies,  based  on  the  constitution  of 
1262  and  utilizing  a  large  amount  of  other  material,  have 
reconstructed  the  Sienese  system  of  justice  as  it  existed 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  This  large  subject,  which,  in 
order  to  reach  broad  and  satisfactory  conclusions,  ought 
to  be  considered  in  connection  with  the  whole  ques- 
tion of  justice  in  the  mediaeval  communes,  I  can  no  more 
than  hurriedly  touch  in  passing.  When  the  feudal 
courts  broke  down,  or  when  they  failed  to  meet  the 
wants  of  the  population,  new  courts  took  shape,  insti- 
tuted by  the  great  corporations  which  came  to  dominate 
society.  In  Siena,  as  everywhere,  there  was  in  conse- 
quence a  variety  of  justice:  justice  of  the  church,  justice 
of  the  guilds,  justice  of  the  commune.  In  this  situation 
it  was  not  always  easy  to  say  which  court  had  compe- 
tence in  a  particular  case.  The  movement  toward  the 
unification  of  these  various  systems  was,  in  the  year 

*  For  an  attractive  account  of  these  covers  see  Hey  wood,  "A  Pictorial 
Chronicle  of  Siena."  The  whole  series  of  covers  has  been  issued  in  photo- 
graphic fac-simile,  accompanied  by  a  scholarly  Introduction,  by  Lisini,  "Le 
Tavolette  Dipinte  di  Biccherna  e  di  Gabella."  In  this  connection  it  should 
be  explained  that  the  Gabella  was  a  minor  section  of  the  general  financial 
administration,  and  that  its  officials,  like  those  of  the  Biccherna,  had  the 
habit  of  filing  away  their  records  between  painted  wooden  covers. 


THE  LAWS  AND  INSTITUTIONS       147 

1262,  still  so  backward,  that  an  able  critic  has  declared 
the  judicial  department  the  weakest  point  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  state.*  Each  of  the  diverse  courts  within 
the  walls  being  independent  of  the  other  developed  its 
own  procedure,  and  each  rested  upon  a  body  of  law,  con- 
taining customary,  statutory,  Germanic,  and  Roman  ele- 
ments in  varying  proportion.  Here  was  abundant 
occasion  fo  confusion,  which,  however,  a  movement 
already  noted  tended  to  reduce.  I  refer  to  the  revival  in 
the  twelfth  century  of  the  study  of  Roman  law  in  the 
university  of  Bologna,  which  influenced  tremendously 
the  legal  systems  of  all  the  communes  of  Italy,  and 
led  to  their  absorption  of  Roman  principles  in  constantly 
increasing  measure. 

On  every  department  of  public  life,  on  which  a  stu- 
dent may  desire  information,  the  constitution  offers  full 
particulars.  Of  the  army  I  shall  speak  in  another 
place,  f  That  Siena  minted  her  own  money,  one  of  the 
usual  attributes  of  sovereignty,  we  know  from  the 
charter  of  Henry  VI,  J  but  only  through  the  constitution 
of  1262  are  we  aware  that  she  took  deep  pride  in  her 
coinage,  declaring  that  none  but  the  best  workmen  shall 
be  employed  in  order  that  the  money  of  the  city  be  both 
reliable  and  beautiful. §  However,  of  all  the  varieties 
of  information  vouchsafed  by  this  document,  none  would 
prove  more  fruitful,  especially  on  the  social  side,  than 
a  study  of  the  municipal  taxes.  Owing  to  its  great 

*  Zdekauer,  "II  Constitute,"  etc.  Introduction,  p.  lix.  For  an  important 
contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  early  communal  justice,  see  the  same 
editor's  "II  Constitute  dei  Consoli  del  Placito  del  Comune  di  Siena"; 
also,  Caggese,  "Un  Comune  Libero  alle  Porte  di  Firenze,"  p.  34  ff. 

t  Chapter  VI,  p.  164  ff.  t  See  chapter  II,  p.  57. 

$  For  the  breve  of  the  lords  of  the  mint — the  mint  itself  was  called  II 
Bulgano — see  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  I,  418,  444. 


148  SIENA 

necessities,  the  commune  early  in  its  career  put  on  the 
tax  screws,  levying  all  the  direct  and  indirect  taxes 
known  to  a  modern  secretary  of  the  treasury,  but  perhaps 
the  most  significant  observation  in  connection  with  the 
revenues  is  that  they  show  a  growing  tendency  on  the 
part  of  the  authorities  to  proportion  the  burden  to  the 
wealth  of  the  individual  citizen — plainly  an  affirmation 
of  democratic  ideals.* 

This  rapid  sketch  of  the  institutions  of  Siena  covers 
the  period  of  the  Twenty-four,  reaching  down  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  nobility  (1277)  and  to  the  assumption  of 
political  power  by  the  people.  Before  I  carry  the 
domestic  evolution  further,  I  must  follow  the  genesis 
and  culmination  of  the  greatest  national  issue  which 
Siena  in  all  her  career  was  obliged  to  face,  the  struggle 
with  Florence  for  the  supremacy  in  Tuscany.  By  an 
interesting  coincidence  the  conflict  was  at  its  height  at 
the  very  period  when  the  constitution  of  1262  came  into 
being.  At  that  time,  however,  the  rivalry  was  already 
a  century  and  a  half  old,  and  by  having  eaten  into  the 
blood  and  fibre  of  every  Sienese  man,  woman,  and  child, 
ignited,  at  the  slightest  provocation,  a  flame  of  passion 
that  was  fed  from  every  enthusiasm  and  every  rancor  of 
the  human  breast. 

*  The  direct  tax,  affirming  itself  more  and  more  in  the  Sienese  system,  was 
a  tax  on  total  wealth  and  was  called  lira.  It  was  levied  for  the  first  time  in 
an  experimental  way  in  1202,  but  from  that  time  was  gradually  broadened 
and  regulated  in  its  application  by  being  based  on  careful  registers.  On 
the  lira  see  "II  Constitute,"  etc.,  Introduction,  p.  Ixviii;  also  "  Conf erenze " 
(1897),  p. 


N 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE^ 

Ojme  can  follow  the  story  o£ the  long  and  bloody 
wars  between  Siena  and  Florence  without  keen 
distress.  Such  savage  hatred,  such  din  and 
onset  of  armed  hosts,  such  wanton  butchery  of  wounded 
men,  such  cold  torture  Q£  prjggnprs^  such  harrying  of 
fields  at  the  very  moment  when  the  bending  corn  was 
n£ejiingjto_the_sicklg — se  non  piangi  di  che  pianger 
su oli  ?  That  they,  Tuscan  cities  of  the  same  blood, 
should ^^  Jhay^w^rr^d  u^oji_oneanother  at  all,  has,  at 
first  blush,  something  unreasonable  to  the  modern  mincf^ 
though  when  we  recall  that  the  society  of  which  they 
were  a  part  systematically  cultivated  a  martial  frame 
of  mind,  that  their  territories  were  contiguous  and  their 
boundaries  uncertain,  and  that  mutual  animosity  was 
constantly  stimulated  by  commercial  rivalry,  we  cannot 
fail  to  recognize  that  here  were  conditions  and  motives 
which  still  operate  in  our  own  day  to  produce  armed 
conflicts.  But  if  the  underlying  causes  of  the  wars 
between  Siena  and  Florence  are  unhappily  familiar  to 
our  thought  and  experience,  there  remains,  separated 
from  our  modern  practice  by  a  gulf  of  seven  centuries, 
the  manner  in  which  these  wars  were  carried  on.  In 
this  respect  Time  has  wrought  an  immense  improve- 
ment, of  which  we  must  take  exact  account  if  we  would 
seize  the  peculiar  atmosphere  enveloping  a  mediaeval 

149 


150  SIENA 

campaign.  Apart  from  our  medical  service,  which  as 
a  very  recent  achievement  of  science  affords  no  basis  for 
comparisons,  we  have  an  elaborate  international  war- 
code,  under  which  non-combatants  are  safeguarded, 
prisoners  treated  with  humanity,  and  every  care  taken 
to  eliminate  merely  wanton  cruelty.  Many  of  the  baser 
passions  had  to  be  tamed,  a  process  involving  a  radical 
reform  of  conduct,  before  mankind  could  make  this 
general  advance.  In  the  campaigns,  not  only  of  Siena 
and  Florence,  but  of  all  the  Italian  cities,  the  absence 
sometimes  of  even  the  most  rudimentary  humanitarian 
impulses  forces  itself  on  our  attention,  and  the  brutality, 
the  uncontrolled  fury,  the  total  surrender  to  the  pulses 
of  hate,  burn  us  as  with  fire.  Hear,  for  example,  the 
words  of  a  poor  Franciscan,  Brother  Salimbene  of 
Parma.  Listening  from  his  quiet  retreat  in  the  Emilia 
to  the  noisy  march  of  the  world,  he  entered  in  his 
chronicle  with  the  pardonable  garrulity  of  old  age  all 
that  he  could  learn  about  the  great  sea-fight  of  the  year 
1284  between  the  Genoese  and  the  Pisans.  The  slaugh- 
ter was  terrible,  and  when  the  victorious  Genoese  had 
sailed  away  with  those  whom  they  had  spared  as 
prisoners  in  their  hands,  the  women  of  Pisa  went  on 
foot  to  seek  out  their  husbands,  sons,  and  brothers. 

"And  when  the  aforesaid  women  sought  out  their  captives,  the 
jailers  would  answer  them:  'Yesterday  thirty  died  and  to-day 
forty.  We  cast  them  into  the  sea,  and  thus  we  do  daily  with  the 
Pisans.'  So  when  those  ladies  heard  such  news  of  their  dear  ones 
and  could  not  find  them,  they  fell  down  amazed  with  excess  of 
grief,  and  could  scarce  breathe  for  utter  anguish  and  pain  of  heart. 
.  .  .  For  the  Pisans  died  in  prison  of  hunger  and  famine  and 
misery  and  anguish  and  sadness."  And  he  closes  a  heart-rending 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      151 

passage  with  this  significant  statement:  "Note,  moreover,  that 
as  there  is  a  natural  loathing  between  men  and  serpents,  dogs  and 
wolves,  horses  and  gryphons,  so  is  there  between  the  Pisans  and 
Genoese,  Pisans  and  men  of  Lucca,  Pisans  and  Florentines."* 

Horses  and  gryphons!  An  amusing  mythological 
intrusion,  but  incapable  of  weakening  the  vibrant  force 
of  the  old  man's  statement.  Like  his  spiritual  father, 
St.  Francis,  like  the  best  men  of  the  church  for  ages  past, 
he  bewailed  this  unmitigated  manner  of  carrying  on 
war;  but  many  generations  were  to  come  and  go  before 
the  voice  of  humanity  made  itself  heard  above  the 
tumult  of  violence. 

Let  us  give  ear  to  one  more  and  the  weightiest  witness 
touching  the  moral  background  of  the  age  before  we 
take  up  the  detailed  struggle  of  Florence  and  Siena. 
Dante  Alighieri  was  a  younger  contemporary  of 
Brother  Salimbene.  What  was  to  him  the  summum 
bonuniy  the  supreme  hope  and  desire  of  mankind  ? 
Listen  to  this  solemn  sentence  from  the  De  Monarchia 
(Book  I,  chap.  4):  "And  hence  to  the  shepherds 
sounded  from  on  high  the  message  not  of  riches,  nor 
pleasures,  nor  honors,  nor  length  of  life,  nor  health,  nor 
beauty,  but  the  message  of  peace."  The  greatest  thing 
is  the  thing  we  miss  most,  and  Dante  neither  had  peace 
in  his  own  life  nor  did  he  see  it  anywhere  about  him  in 
the  world.  Even  more  moving  than  his  own  words  is 
the  glimpse  of  the  great  exile  which  we  get  in  a  con- 
temporary letter.f  The  writer  was  an  inmate  in  a 

*  Coulton,  "From  St.  Francis  to  Dante:  A  translation  of  all  that  is  of 
Primary  Interest  in  the  Chronicle  of  Salimbene,"  p.  218. 

f  The  letter  of  Ira  Ilario  retains  a  certain  biographical  value  even  if  it  is, 
as  some  contend,  apocryphal.  On  its  authenticity  see  Bartoli,  "  Delia  Vita 
di  Dante,"  chapter  12. 


152  SIENA 

monastery  high  in  the  mountains  above  Luni.  One 
day  a  wanderer  with  the  sad  eyes  of  Ahasuerus  entered 
the  gate.  "  Hither  he  came  moved  either  by  the  religion 
of  the  place  or  by  some  other  feeling.  And  seeing  him 
...  I  asked  him  what  he  wished  and  sought.  He 
moved  not,  but  stood  silently  contemplating  the  columns 
and  arches  of  the  cloister.  Again  I  asked  him  what  he 
wished.  .  .  .  Then  slowly  turning  his  head,  and  looking 
at  the  friars  and  me,  he  answered  'Peace."  The 
stranger  was  the  great  Florentine. 

Peace,  the  peace  which  in  his  poem  he  said  he  sought 
from  world  to  world,*  was  the  aspiration  of  his  deepest 
mood.  But  here  we  come  upon  an  anomaly,  painful 
in  such  a  man,  but  intensely  human.  Though  he 
craved  a  better  day,  and  dreamt  of  peace  and  love,  he 
was  buffeted  by  all  the  passions  of  his  age.  That  was 
the  price  he  paid,  and  probably  paid  gladly,  for  being 
alive.  Does  he  not  share  every  hatred  by  which  his 
fellow-citizens,  ranging  from  the  humble  wool-carder  to 
the  proud  merchant  of  the  Calimala,  were  fused  into  a 
nation  animated  by  a  common  patriotism  ?  In  his 
verse  rival  Pisa  becomes  the  vitupero  delle  genti,  neigh- 
boring Pistoia  is  urged  to  make  an  ash-heap  of  itself  for 
its  sins,  and  the  upland  Sienese  are  sneered  at  as  fickle- 
hearted  children,  a  genie  vana.  His  attitude  is  equally 
uncompromising  toward  his  fellow-citizens,  or  rather 
toward  that  presumptuous  section  of  his  fellow-citizens 
who  conducted  his  beloved  Florence  along  a  different 
political  path  from  that  which  he  would  have  wished 
her  to  travel;  he  has  nailed  their  reputations,  while 
the  world  lasts  and  poetry  is  power,  to  the  gallows. 

*"Purg.,"  V,  61. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      153 

No,  Dante  might  cry  peace,  peace,  but,  while  he  himself 
travailed  with  hate,  showing  us  in  the  vast  panorama 
of  his  poem  his  whole  generation  stirred  in  every  fibre 
with  the  like  passion,  there  could  be  no  peace. 

Returning  to  the  rivalry  of  Florence  and  Siena,  I 
repeat  that  it  TVad  its  origin  iri~a  territorial  issue,  re- 
enforced  and  embittered  by  unrestrained  commercial 
competincm7  The  reader  will  recall  that,  as  soon  as  the 
twjo_towns  became  independent  commonwealths,  they 
entered  upon  a  struggle  to  control  each  one  its  own 
comitatus  or  county.  In  the  early  Middle  Age,  during 
the  Germanic  domination,  the  comitatus  or  count's 
territory  was  the  civil  counterpart  of  the  diocese  or 
bishop's  territory,  and,  in  a  general  way,  the  boundaries 
of  the  two  administrative  units  of  church  and  state 
coincided.  But  there  were  regions  of  divergence.  The 
failure  of  the  Sienese  diocesan  boundary  to  include 
eighteen  baptisteries,  lying  to  the  east  and  included 
within  the  political  boundary  of  Siena,  was  at  the  bottom 
of  the  long  lawsuit,  of  which  we  have  heard,  between 
the  bishops  of  Arezzo  and  Siena.  Northward,  in  the 
direction  toward  Florence,  there  was  even  graver  trouble, 
to  understand  which  we  must  familiarize  ourselves  with 
certain  important  facts  in  the  Florentine  political 
development.  Owing  to  some  confusion  of  the  ninth 
century  which  escapes  our  knowledge,  the  county  of 
Fiesole  had  been  united  with  that  of  Florence,  giving 
Florence  a  civil  territory  larger  than  that  of  any  other 
Tuscan  town.  How  far  the  boundary  of  the  combined 
county  of  Florence-Fiesole  extended  southward  was 
uncertain,  but  the  Florentines  raised  the  claim  that  it 
reached  beyond  the  Chianti  hills,  nay,  even  to  a  succes- 


154  SIENA 

sion  of  points,  the  nearest  of  which  was  not  above  seven 
or  eight  miles  from  the  Sienese  walls. 

Apart  from  the  doubt  which,  in  view  of  the  prevail- 
ing mediaeval  confusion  in  the  matter  of  boundaries,  the 
Sienese  might  reasonably  entertain  concerning  the  jus- 
tice of  the  Florentine  claim,  they  were  urged  by  the  most 
elementary  considerations  of  safety  to  keep  a  neighbor 
of  the  metal  of  Florence  at  a  more  comfortable  distance 
from  the  gates.  At  this  point  the  reader  is  requested  to 
examine  the  accompanying  map  *  and  to  take  note  how 
close  to  Siena  the  probable  southern  boundary  line 
of  the  combined  county  of  Florence-Fiesole  extended. 
Even  so  the  Florentines  raised  objections  and  claimed 
a  still  further  extension  southward.  Agreement  prov- 
ing impossible  in  the  face  of  such  insolence,  the  de- 
cision had  to  be  referred  to  the  field,  and  since,  as  we 
shall  presently  see,  Florence  was  victorious,  her  view 
naturally  triumphed.  As  early  as  1203  an  arbiter,  the 
potesta  of  Poggibonsi,  rendered  a  decision  favorable  in 
all  respects  to  Florence,  with  the  result  that  down  to 
the  last  days  of  the  independent  existence  of  the  two 
republics,  the  boundary  between  them  practically  re- 
mained as  traced  by  Florence  and  confirmed  by  the 
so-called  "lodo"  of  1203. 

During  the  early  jnediaeval  centuries  this  boundary 
dispute  between_Siena  and  Florence  slumberedTassum- 
ing  importance  Qnly  with  fbfijwellth^century^  for  not 
till  then  didjhe  two  cities  Jbegin  to  extend  their  domin- 
ions  beyond  their_g2J]s,  In  this  movement  of  expan- 
sion they  had  no  sooner  clashed  with  the  great  nobles 
of  their  respective  contados  than  they  began  to  quarrel 

*See  p.  177. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      155 

with  one  another.  If  Siena  was  hemmed  in  by  the  So- 
arzi,  the  Cacciaconti,  the  Aldobrandeschi  and  other 
clans,  Florence  was  hardly  less  hampered  by  the  two 
great  houses  of  the  Guidi  and  the  Alberti,  who  held 
scores  of  castles  all  around  the  city.  Under  the  stimu- 
lus  of  an  unscrupulous  rivalry,  Florence  secretly  en- 
courageaand  often  lent  open  aid  to  the  Sienese  nobles, 
while  Siena  followed  the  same  policy  towqrd  the  F|QJ- 
entine  magnates.  When  we  recollect  that  each  of  the 
two  towns  was  territorially  and  commercially  in  contact 
with  other  towns,  Florence  especially  with  Arezzo, 
Pistoia,  and  Pisa,  Siena  more  particularly  with  Arezzo 
and  Orvieto,  we  are  prepared  to  understand  that  they 
never  faced  each  other  like  two  duellists,  each  of  whom 
relies  upon  himself  alone,  but  that  their  city  neighbors 
were  inevitably  drawn  into  the  conflict.  Nor  does  that 
exhaust  the  political  and  military  factors  of  which  we 
must  take  account  in  this  keen  rivalry.  As  pope  and 
emperor  enjoyed  considerable,  if  varying,  power,  towns 
so  savagely  hostile  as  Siena  and  Florence  would  not 
hesitate  to  enlist  the  support  of  one  or  the  other  for 
their  side^  When  Florence  became  Guelph,  holding 
with  remarkable  steadiness  to  the  alliance  with  Rome, 
Siena  had  really  no  choice  left  but  to  become  Ghibelline 
jmd  seek  her  salvation  in  a  union  with  the  emperor. 
Thus  the  nobles  of  the  respective  contados,  the  neigh- 
boring free  communes  of  Tuscany,  the  emperor  and 
pope  all  play  parts  in  the  long  feud  between  Florence 
and  Siena,  but  while  the  presence  of  these  numerous 
agents  often  obscures  the  issue  and  complicates  the 
situation,  we  are  certainly  not  wrong  in  affirming  that 
no  matter  with  what  helpers  and  under  what  battle- 


156  SIENA 

cries  the  two  towns  clashed  in  field  and  council- 
chamber,  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  each  was  ever 
uppermost  its  own  security  and  greatness. 

The  first  armed  conflict  of  Florence  and  Siena 
bringing  the_territorial  issue  between  them  into  sharp 
relief  occurred  in  the  year  1129  at  Vignale,  a  castle 
situated  in  the  disputed  Chianti  territory.*  The  Sienese 
had  seized  an  opportunity  to  enter  and  fortify  it,  when 
the  Florentines  hurried  up  and  drove  them  out  again. 
In  1141,  we  are  informed,  the  Florentines  pushed  an 
incursion  into  Sienese  territory  as  far  as  the  Porta 
Camellia,  the  north  gate  of  the  town,  and  in  the  year 
1145  we  hear  of  a  great  Florentine  victory  on  the  slopes 
of  Monte  Maggio,  that  wooded  mountain  intercepting 
the  gaze  of  whosoever  standing  on  the  Sienese  ramparts 
looks  toward  the  setting  sun.  In  the  battle  of  Monte 
Maggio  the  Guidi,  the  leading  feudal  family  of  the  Arno 
valley,  fought  on  the  side  of  Siena,  and  though  defeated, 
or  rather  because  defeated,  continued  to  nurse  a  rancor- 
ous hatred  for  the  Florentine  commonwealth.  In 
company  with  their  ally,  Siena,  they  now  planned  a 
stroke  which  was  to  check  the  further  progress  south- 
ward of  the  Arno  city. 

The  via  francigena,  of  such  importance  to  Siena,  fol- 
lowed, as  we  know,  the  Elsa  valley  until  it  reached  the 
Arno,  crossed  the  river  by  the  bridge  at  Fucecchio,  and 

*The  Annales  Senenses  ("Monumenta  Germ.,"  XIX)  report,  without 
explaining,  an  earlier  clash  than  the  above,  a  clash  of  1114.  The  wars  of 
Florence  and  Siena  in  the  twelfth  century  are  a  difficult  subject,  upon  which 
many  scholars  have  exercised  their  ingenuity.  In  addition  to  Davidsohn 
("Geschichte  von  Florenz")  and  Santini  ("Contado  e  Politica  Esteriore  del 
Sec.,  XII"),  much  valuable  material  has  been  contributed  by  Villari  ("I 
Primi  Due  Secoli  della  Storia  di  Firenze")  and  Hartwig  ("Quellen  und 
Forschungen  zur  Geschichte  von  Florenz"). 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      157 

then  turned  sharply  west  to  Lucca.  Half-way  down 
the  Elsa  valley  lay  the  hamlet  of  Poggibonsi,  so  favor- 
ably situated  on  a  hill  that  whoever  controlled  it  might 
hope  to  hold  the  key  to  the  whole  region.  Poggibonsi 
was  a  possession  of  the  Guidi,  but  lay,  so  the  Arno 
burghers  clamorously  affirmed,  in  Florentine  territory. 
Toward  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  little  Poggi- 
bonsi on  the  Elsa  became  the  center  of  a  web  of  in- 
trigues which  almost  defies  unravelling.  Suffice  it  that 
the  Guidi,  filled  with  wrath  at  the  presumptuous 
Florentines,  deftly  spun  their  threads  to  play  Poggibonsi 
into  the  hands  of  Siena.  In  the  year  1155  the  cabal,  in 
which  even  the  pope  was  induced  to  take  a  hand,  scored 
a  complete  success.  The  Florentines,  hurrying  up  with 
an  army  to  protest  with  force  against  the  diminution  of 
their  authority,  were  defeated,  and  Poggibonsi  for  the 
present  remained  in  the  hands  of  Siena,  a  welcome 
guarantee  to  that  town  against  further  Florentine  en- 
croachment on  the  Elsa  side,  f 

If  one  thing  more  than  another  distinguished  the  Arno 
burghers  it  was  that  they  could  bide  their  time  with  the 
patience  of  a  hunter  in  the  woods.  Desirous  of  trapping 
Poggibonsi,  they  waited  for  their  opportunity  nineteen 
years.  Then  they  intrigued  with  the  Cacciaconti,  lords 
of  Asciano  and  neighboring  points  and  ancient  enemies 
of  Siena,  and  acquired  a  foothold  in  the  important 
Asciano  itself.  When  the  Sienese  arrived  on  the  scene, 
prepared  to  undertake  the  siege  of  the  little  town,  the 
Florentines  advanced  upon  them  to  the  cry  of  San 

t  Poggibonsi  in  the  twelfth  century  is  a  story  by  itself  and  a  fascinating 
one  for  the  student  of  Tuscany.  For  a  coherent  account  see  Davidsohn,  p. 
457^-f  and  passim;  also,  Santini,  "Contado  e  Politica  Esteriore",  pp.  57, 
81-83,  100-106. 


158  SIENA 

Giovanni,  their  patron  saint,  and  defeated  them  roundly 
(1174).  In  spite  of  spirited  efforts  the  sons  of  the 
Virgin  could  not  recover  from  this  calamity,  and  in  the 
year  1176  were  obliged  to  accept  peace  at  the  dictation 
of  their  enemies.  The  conditions  of  the  victors  were 
hard :  they  acquired  one-half  of  the  Sienese  interest  in 
Poggibonsi  and  forced  from  Siena  a  recognition  of  the 
Chianti  boundary  line  as  drawn  by  themselves. 

The  next  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  two  rivals  occurred 
injthe  year  1 197,  when  the  suddenjeath  of  the  Emperor 
Henry  VI  broke  the  tyrannical  yoke  which  his  masterful 
will  had  imposed  on  the  Tuscan  cities.  We  have  ob- 
served how,  by  the  charter  of  the  year  1 186,  Henry  had 
in  effect  limited  the  authority  of  the  Sienese  consuls  to 
the  city  itself.  The  like  or  a  similar  policy  he  had  pur- 
sued with  reference  to  the  other  towns,  with  the  result 
that  they  had  lost  their  hold  on  their  respective  contados, 
ambition  and  prize  of  many  decades  of  combat.  In 
1197,  therefore,  the  towns,  relieved  of  the  imperial 
incubus,  made  a  general  Tuscan  alliance  with  the  main 
object  of  permitting  each  one  to  repossess  itself  of  its  de- 
pendent territory.  We  have  taken  note  of  the  "  submis- 
sions," which  Siena  now  successfully  enforced  from 
Cacciaconti,  Ardengeschi,  and  others  of  her  feudal  foes. 
But  the  contado  issue,  revived  by  the  Tuscan  league, 
naturally  brought  the  old  Chianti  boundary  dispute 
once  more  to  the  front.  Siena  was  very  desirous  to 
improve  her  position  against  her  grasping  neighbor,  but 
as  Florence  would  not  yield  one  inch  of  her  historical 
claim,  the  upland  city,  in  order  to  avoid  war,  agreed 
to  have  the  Chianti  matter  settled  once  for  all  by  the 
decision  of  an  umpire.  The  potesta  of  Poggibonsi  was 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      159 

accepted  for  this  office,  and  in  the  year  1203  pronounced 
the  "lodo"  already  mentioned,  favorable  in  every  respect 
to  the  Florentine  claims.  A  little  later,  in  the  year  1208, 
Siena  resigned  all  her  remaining  rights  to  Poggibonsi. 
Thus,  after  a  struggle  of  almost  one  hundred  years,  the 
defeat  of  Siena,  with  regard  to  the  various  questions 
touching  her  northern  boundary,  was  indisputable  and 
complete.  With  the  new  century  the  conflict  between 
the  now  thoroughly  embittered  towns  continued,  but 
Siena,  persuaded  of  her  inability  to  break  through  the 
Florentine  line  to  the  north,  with  shifty  resolution  turned 
her  chief  attention  in  another  direction.* 

To  understand  fully  the  change  which  now  occurred 
in  the  Sienese  policy  of  conquest  we  must  return  to  the 
Tuscan  league  of  1 197.  From  that  union  of  cities  Siena 
received  authority  to  possess  herself  of  her  contado. 
Accordingly,  as  soon  as  the  nobles  had  been  reduced  to 
obedience,  she  laid  siege  to  the  hill-town  of  Montalcino, 
and  in  the  year  1201  raised  her  banner  over  its  walls. 
Then,  moving  step  by  step,  she  undertook  to  subjugate 
Montepulciano,  even  more  important  than  Montalcino, 
for  Montepulciano  reared  its  threatening  towers  not  only 
near  the  via  francigena,  but  also  directly  over  the  road 
which  penetrated  eastward  to  the  Chiana  valley  and 
to  central  Italy.  On  the  basis  of  an  express  agreement 


*  Of  course  Poggibonsi  and  the  northern  boundary  were  not  eliminated 
from  the  subsequent  struggles,  for  Florence  did  not  enter  into  permanent 
possession  of  the  little  town  in  1208.  The  interference  of  the  emperor 
presently  effected  the  liberation  of  Poggibonsi,  without,  however,  in  the  least 
discouraging  the  ambition  of  the  Arno  burghers.  Throughout  the  thirteenth 
century  Poggibonsi,  when  free  as  well  as  when  unfree,  remained  a  centre  of 
dark  intrigue  directed  against  Florence.  For  the  astonishing  vicissitudes  of 
the  little  town  in  the  thirteenth  century  see  Davidsohn,  "  Geschichte  von  F.," 
especially  II1,  pp.  219,  428,  513;  and  II",  p.  64. 


160  SIENA 

the  Florentines  had  supported  the  Sienese  in  their 
campaign  against  Montalcino,  but  now  when  the  latter 
moved  on  Montepulciano  the  Arno  burghers  took  alarm. 
A  strong  Siena  was  not  to  their  taste,  and  although 
Montepulciano  was  proved  before  commissioners  of  the 
Tuscan  league  to  lie,  beyond  the  peradventure  of  a 
doubt,  in  Sienese  territory,*  and,  therefore,  to  be  lawful 
Sienese  prey,  the  Florentines  were  ready  to  resort  to 
any  and  every  device  before  they  sanctioned  Sienese 
rule  at  that  commanding  point.  The  result  was  war,  in 
fact  a  whole  succession  of  wars,  spun  out  through  the 
greater  part  of  the  thirteenth  century,  with  Montepul- 
ciano as  the  storm-centre,  and  a  number  of  other  Sienese 
towns,  such  as  Montalcino  and  Grosseto,  involved 
whenever  Florence  could  induce  them  to  rise  in  revolt. 
Between  the  new  wars  and  those  of  the  previous  century 
over  Poggibonsi  and  the  Chianti  boundary  existed  as  a 
bond  the  inalterable  resolution  of  Florence  to  thwart 
the  expansion  of  Siena. 

In  order  to  bring  the  new  phase  of  the  struggle  before 
us  as  succinctly  as  possible,  I  shall  set  down  the  wars  in 
their  chronological  order.  There  was  war  between 
Florence  and  Siena  from  1207  to  i2o8Vagainfrom  1229 
to  1235,  another  war  from  1251  to  1254,  and  a  final 
struggle— with  interruptions- — from  1258  to  1270.  Even 
the  intervals  of  peace  witnessed  some  disturbances, 
because  Tuscany,  with  its  many  other  cities,  provided 
each  with  its  own  set  of  quarrels,  was  almost  always  in  a 
state  of  confusion,  which  inevitably  reacted  upon  the 
delicate  relations  of  our  two  rivals.  I  do  not  purpose 

*  The  evidence,  taken  down  by  the  commissioners  and  entirely  conclusive 
on  the  point  at  issue,  may  be  found  in  Muratori,  "Antiq.  It.,"  IV,  576  ff. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      161 

to  follow  these  wars  with  any  detail  until  we  get  to 
Montaperti  and  the  dazzling  prospect,  brief  as  summer 
lightning,  which  it  opened  to  the  Sienese.  The  military 
art  of  that  century  was  a  pitiable  thing,  and  the  capri- 
cious course  of  assaults,  sieges,  and  retreats  must  exas- 
perate every  modern  reader.  To  Mr.  Maurice  Hewlett, 
considering  the  ways  of  the  Tuscan  cities,*  their  cam- 
paigns reach  unimagined  heights  of  futility.  Siena, 
Pisa,  Arezzo,  Florence  and  the  rest  are  to  his  amused 
view  very  like  a  pack  of  ill-tempered  village  curs,  who 
bark  and  snarl  at  one  another  until  with  a  sudden  rush 
they  roll  over  in  the  dust,  biting  right  and  left,  and  then, 
yapping  rage  and  victory,  make  for  home.  With  due 
allowance  for  the  exaggerations  of  the  romantic  tempera- 
ment, it  remains  none  the  less  true  that  there  is  little 
profit  to  be  had  of  the  ordinary  Tuscan  war.  Its  back- 
ground of  mediaeval  manners  alone  is  perenially  inter- 
esting, and  as  that  can  be  recovered  best  out  of  the  mouth 
of  contemporaries,  or  from  writers  who  were  sufficiently 
close  to  contemporaries  to  share  their  sentiments,  I  shall 
content  myself  with  following  the  events  at  the  hand  of 
expressive  selections  from  the  chroniclers. f 

The  war  of  1207  began  with  a  siege  by  the  Sienese  of 
Montepulciano.  To  make  a  diversion  the  Florentines 
with  their  allies — the  Aretines  and  Count  Guido,  who, 
following  the  wavering  practice  of  his  kind,  was  now  on 
the  Florentine  side — attacked  the  castle  of  Montalto, 
not  far  from  Asciano.  On  the  29th  of  June  the  Sienese 

*  In  his  "  Road  in  Tuscany." 

f  Readers  interested  in  the  political  combinations  and  military  incidents  of 
these  wars  are  referred  to  the  second  volume  of  Davidsohn's  "Geschichte 
von  Florenz."  They  will  find  there  a  brilliant,  detailed  reconstruction  of 
the  complicated  affairs  of  Tuscany  in  the  thirteenth  century. 


162  SIENA 

came  up  to  the  relief  of  Montalto,  and  a  great  battle 
ensued,  of  which  a  Florentine  eye-witness  has  left  a 
curious  account. 

"The  Florentines,  investing  the  aforesaid  castle,  assaulted 
it  with  many  mangonels,  and  in  order  that  the  garrison  might  not 
effect  a  retreat  .  .  .  guards  were  set  round  about.  On  a  certain 
day,  however,  when  the  sun  shot  down  hot  rays,  and  the  guards 
wearied  by  work  were  resting  in  the  shade  .  .  .  behold  the 
Sienese,  come  to  snatch  the  castle  garrison  from  danger  by  a  sudden 
stroke.  .  .  .  But  the  Florentines,  seizing  their  arms,  rushed  upon 
them  and  drove  them  into  flight,  pursuing  them  for  four  miles,  not 
over  ways  suited  for  war,  but  through  woods  and  thickets  difficult 
even  for  wild  beasts.  .  .  .  And  the  tents  and  the  whole  equipment 
of  the  army  was  seized,  and  of  knights  and  foot-soldiers  twelve 
hundred  or  thereabouts  were  captured,  and  very  many  on  both 
sides  were  killed.  .  .  .  However,  I  desire  not  to  omit  what, 
though  I  did  not  see,  by  virtue  of  my  being  of  that  expedition  I 
heard,  to  wit,  that  the  women,  coming  from  afar,  with  tears, 
sought  the  bodies  of  their  husbands,  and  each  in  order  to  find  one 
had  to  turn  many  corpses  over  seeking  for  her  own.  They  cried 
aloud,  weeping  together,  and  owing  to  the  altered  features  scarce 
one  recognized  her  husband.  .  .  . "  * 

That  signal  defeat  obliged  the  Sienese  to  desist  from 
attacking  Montepulciano  and  to  make  peace.  They 
would  have  to  await  their  opportunity,  and  the  oppor- 
tunity in  the  changing  circumstances  of  Tuscany  always 
came.  Hear  the  version  of  the  next  encounter  as  given 
by  the  great  Florentine  chronicler,  Villani: 

"In  the  year  1229  the  Sienese  broke  the  peace  with  the  Floren- 
tines, because  against  the  articles  of  peace  they  laid  siege  to  Monte- 
pulciano in  the  month  of  June  of  the  said  year.  On  which  ac- 

*  "Sanzanomis  Gesta  Florentinorum."  Hartwig,  "Quellen  und  Forschun- 
gen,"  I,  p.  15. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      163 

count  in  the  following  September,  Messer  Giovanni  Bottacci  being 
potesta  of  Florence,  the  Florentines  -led  an  army  against  the 
Sienese  and  harried  the  countryside  to  Pieve  Asciata  and  dis- 
mantled Montelisciai,  one  of  their  castles  not  three  miles  from 
Siena.  And  the  next  year,  Otto  da  Mandello  of  Milan  being 
potesta  of  Florence,  the  Florentines  led  an  army  against  the 
Sienese  on  the  3ist  of  May,  and  they  brought  the  carroccio  with  them 
and,  passing  by  the  city  of  Siena,  went  to  San  Quirico  a  Rosenna 
and  dismantled  the  baths  of  Vignone.  .  .  .  And  returning  they 
laid  siege  to  Siena."  * 

In  the  matter  of  the  siege  itself — it  occurred  in  the 
year  1230 — we  will  give  ear  to  another  Florentine,  who 
offers  us  a  fuller  account  than  the  grave  Villani.  The 
Florentine  army  lay  encamped  before  the  north  gate, 
called  Porta  Camellia. 

"And  the  Sienese  making  a  sally  to  defend  themselves  a  great 
battle  followed;  when  the  Florentines  drove  them  back,  even  the 
women  came  out  to  fight,  but  to  no  avail,  for  Count  Alberto  di 
Mangona  succeeded  hi  hanging  up  his  shield  on  the  gate" — in 
token  of  victory!  "The  slaughter  was  great  and  the  city  was 
almost  completely  captured;  and  if  the  Florentines  had  not  been 
moved  by  compassion  they  might  have  destroyed  the  whole  of  it 
with  fire  and  sword.  They  brought  one  thousand  three  hundred 
and  thirty-five  prisoners  to  Florence  and,  in  addition,  many 
beautiful  women  of  Siena,  and  them  they  obliged  to  become  the 
concubines  of  those  who  had  captured  them."  f 

The  "compassion"  of  the  Florentines  is  good,  espe- 
cially in  the  light  of  the  succeeding  item  about  the 
captured  Sienese  women.  But  to  proceed  with  the  war. 
In  1232  the  Sienese  at  last  had  their  heart's  wish;  they 
took  Montepulciano  and  levelled  its  walls  with  the 

*  Villani,  "Cronica,"  Libro  VI,  chap.  6. 

t  "Die  sogenannte  Chronik  des  Brunette  Latini,"  Hartwig,  II,  p.  237. 


164  SIENA 

ground.  This  success  was  mitigated  by  a  new  harrying 
of  the  poor  countryside  by  the  Florentines,  and  in  the 
next  year  (1233)  came  another  siege,  which  was  unsuc- 
cessful but  must  have  been  a  sore  trial  to  the  Sienese  in 
more  ways  than  one,  for  the  besiegers  "threw  many 
stones  into  the  city  from  many  engines  of  war,  and  to  do 
despite  and  bring  shame  to  the  besieged  hurled  asses 
over  the  walls  e  altra  bruttura"* — amidst  the  Homeric 
laughter  of  the  embattled  warriors  from  Arno,  sadly 
addicted,  as  we  may  still  learn  by  a  perusal  of  the  gay 
tales  of  their  countryman,  Boccaccio,  to  beffe  and  prac- 
tical jokes.  When  the  Florentines  came  yet  another 
year  in  the  season  of  the  crops  and  laid  waste  the  fields 
and  destroyed  more  than  forty  castles  and  settlements, 
the  Sienese  at  last  cried  enough.  One  of  their  own 
chroniclers  reports  the  terms  of  the  peace.  Of  course 
Montepulciano  had  to  be  set  free.  "And  the  Sienese 
rebuilt  the  walls  of  Montepulciano  which  cost  them 
8,000  florins  :"f  the  walls  which  they  themselves  had 
cast  down — a  bitter  morsel  for  the  stiff-necked  burghers 
of  the  upland  town!  Montalcino,  too,  the  other  apple 
of  discord  in  the  southern  district  of  Siena,  had  to  be 
given  its  independence  at  the  bidding  of  the  victorious 
Florentines. 

At  this  juncture  we  may  pause  a  moment  to  look  into 
the  composition  of  the  forces  which  engaged  in  these 
furious  expeditions.  We  have  already  heard  that  the 
popular  army,  according  to  the  old  Germanic  concept  of 
das  Folk  in  Wafjen,  was  an  expressive  feature  of  all  the 
free  communes  of  Tuscany,  but  we  have  not  attempted 

*  Villani,  "Cronica,"  Libro  VI,  chap.  10. 

f  Muratori,  "Cronica  Sanese,"  ad  annum  1235. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      165 

to  develop  a  detailed  picture  of  such  a  communal  host. 
On  the  safe  assumption  that  the  army  of  one  city  was 
much  like  that  of  another,  we  are  justified  in  drawing 
upon  a  remarkable,  I  may  say  a  unique,  military  docu- 
ment, preserved  in  the  Florentine  archives.  This  is  the 
so-called  Libro  di  Montaperti,  being  nothing  less  than 
the  administrative  records  of  the  Florentine  host  of  1260, 
which,  on  their  capture  by  the  Sienese  in  the  terrible 
rout  of  that  year,  were  jealously  guarded  as  an  invaluable 
prize  through  many  generations,  only  to  be  returned  to 
the  Arno  city  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  visible  sign  of 
the  definite  supremacy  of  the  Medicean  commonwealth.* 
With  the  help  of  this  source,  supplemented  by  the  Sien- 

_,_,,,         i  -  ~ -  -    .    A  .L.  ^ — ,__,_  J .  ,  ,.-—  • 

ese  constitution  of  1262,!  we  can  get  a  very  graphic  con- 
ce£tion  of  a  Florentine,  as  well  as  of  a  Sienese.  army 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

To  begin  with,  the  communal  army  was  indeed  demp- 
cratic  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  for,  when  war  was 
Declared,  all  the  male  inhabitants,  from  the  age  of  fifteen 
to  the  age  of  seventy,  in  the  city  as  well  as  in  the  county, 
were  obliged  to  report  for  service  under  threat  of  heavy 
penalties.  Apart  from  certain  inconsiderable  bands, 
detailed  for  garrison  duty,  the  conscripts  formed  one 
large  field  army,  composed,  in  the  case  of  Siena,  of 
three  main  divisions  corresponding  to  the  three  regions 
or  terzi  of  the  town — Citta  on  the  south  hill,  San  Martino 
on  the  east  hill,  and  Camollia  on  the  north  hill.  The 
Florentine  host,  according  to  the  division  of  the  Arno 
town  into  six  regions,  and  not  into  three  as  at  Siena, 
was  made  up  of  six  distinct  bodies.  Thus  every  inhab- 

*  "II  Libra  di  Montaperti,"  Pubblicato  per  cura  di  Cesare  Paoli,  Florence, 
1889.  f  See,  for  guidance,  Introduction,  xxxxiv  and  Ixxxviii. 


166  SIENA 

itant  within  the  walls  of  our  City  of  the  Virgin  marched 
with  the  men  of  the  terzo  in  which  he  dwelt,  but  as  the 
terzo  system  was,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  extended 
also  to  the  county,  which  we  may  conceive  as  composed 
of  three  sectors  adjoining  the  three  hills  of  the  town, 
every  county  dweller  was  carried  on  the  army  lists 
either  of  Citta,  of  San  Martino,  or  of  Camellia. 

When  we  have  understood  that  the  military  forces 
of  San  Martino  would  be  normally  made  up  of  the  city 
dwellers  of  the  terzo,  increased  by  the  inhabitants  of 
that  section  of  the  county  contiguous  to  San  Martino, 
and  so  with  Citta  and  Camellia,  we  may  pass  on  to  the 
composition  of  each  of  the  three  great  fighting  corps. 
Each  was  divided  into  milites  and  pedites,  that  is,  into 
cavalry  and  infantry,  the  enrolment  in  one  or  the  other 
of  the  two  services  being  determined  exclusively  by 
wealth.  The  individual  whose  lira  or  property  tax 
reached  a  certain  sum  had  to  keep  a  horse  for  the  com- 
mune, and  present  himself  for  service  with  lance,  shield, 
and  other  accoutrements  exactly  prescribed,  while  he 
whose  lira  fell  below  a  certain  sum  served  on  foot  and 
armed  himself  according  to  a  humbler  requirement. 
The  arms,  it  will  be  observed,  were  in  each  case  fur- 
nished by  the  citizen  and  not  by  the  commune.  How- 
ever, milites  and  pedites  did  not  exhaust  the  military 
categories,  for  the  development  of  war  had  favored  the 
formation  of  certain  special  troops,  composed  of  picked 
men  drafted  from  the  terzi.  Thus  we  hear  of  a  body  of 
pavesai  or  shield-bearers,  carrying  immense  bucklers 
which  were  tied  together  for  attack  and  afforded  the 
appearance  of  a  moving  wall,  of  a  body  of  arcadon  or 
long  bowmen,  and  of  a  company  of  balestrieri,  armed 


The  Palazzo   Huonsignori 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      167 

with  balestre  or  cross-bows.  Among  the  special  arms 
the  cross-bows  held  the  most  prominent  place,  for,  when 
built  on  a  large  scale,  according  to  a  great  variety  of 
patterns,  they  formed  a  primitive  artillery  for  hurling 
stones  and  arrows,  and  proved  themselves  particularly 
effective  in  the  conduct  of  a  siege.  If  we  add  a  baggage 
service  of  pack-asses,  destined  to  carry  the  tents  and  the 
provisions,  we  can  see  that  the  army,  on  passing  out  of 
the  gates,  each  division  under  a  leader  and  following  a 
gonfalon  or  pennon  gayly  fluttering  in  the  wind,  was 
already  far  beyond  the  stage  of  primitive  organization.* 
But  of  all  the  curious  and  attractive  features  of  a 
mediaeval  host  upon  the  march  none  would  have 
exercised  such  fascination  upon  a  spectator  of  our  time 
as  the  carroccio.  We  heard  from  Villani,  the  Florentine 
chronicler,  that  his  countrymen  carried  the  carroccio 
with  them  in  the  campaign  of  1230,  and  it  is  a  fact  that 
no  city  of  mediaeval  Italy  undertook  any  action  on  a 
large  scale  without  this  strange  instrument  of  war. 
The  Florentine  historian,  although  writing  in  the  four- 
teenth century,  when  the  cafroccio  had  already  fallen 
into  disuse,  was  sufficiently  stirred  by  antiquarian 
interest  to  devote  a  page  of  loving  description  to  it. 
He  writes  of  Florence,  but  we  may  safely  assume  that 
the  Sienese  and  Pisan  and  Milanese  and  every  other 
war-chariot  had  much  the  same  appearance. 

"And  observe  that  the  carroccio,  which  the  commune  and 
people  of  Florence  took  along  with  them,  was  a  platform  on  four 
wheels,  painted  crimson  all  over,  and  it  carried  two  great  crimson 

*  For  an  excellent  article  on  the  mobilization  of  a  mediaeval  army  see 
Hartwig,  "Quellen  und  Forschungen,"  II,  p.  297  ff.  This  may  be  supple- 
mented by  comparison  with  Davidsohn,  "Geschichte  v.  F.,"  II  ',  p.  413  ff. 


168  SIENA 

masts  from  which  waved  the  great  standard  of  the  commune,  con- 
sisting of  one  white  and  one  crimson  bar  and  yet  to  be  seen  in 
San  Giovanni.  And  the  carroccio  was  drawn  by  a  magnificent 
pair  of  oxen,  covered  with  crimson  hangings  and  reserved  expressly 
for  this  service  .  .  .  and  their  driver  enjoyed  freedom  of  taxation 
in  the  city.  And  when  an  expedition  was  proclaimed  the  nobles 
and  knights  of  the  neighborhood  drew  forth  the  car  of  state  from 
the  Opera  of  San  Giovanni  and  brought  it  to  the  New  Market. 
.  .  .  And  the  best  and  strongest  and  worthiest  foot-soldiers  were 
appointed  as  its  special  guard  and  the  whole  people  were  wont  to 
collect  about  it."  * 

As  far  as  the  carroccio  had  a  practical  purpose,  it 
served,  as  Villani's  statement  indicates,  as  a  rallying- 
point  for  the  infantry,  but  rather  than  a  factor  of  military 
usefulness  it  was  an  agent  of  pomp  and  patriotism,  and 
as  such  became  the  object  of  an  almost  religious  venera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  citizens.  For  this  reason  to  lose 
the  carroccio  was  an  intolerable  disgrace,  and  for  this 
reason  the  Florentines  at  Montaperti,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see,  died  around  it  in  the  same  devoted  spirit  in 
which  crusaders  perished  fighting  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

As  we  approach  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century 
we  observe  that  the  local  issue  between  Florence  and 
Siena  becomes  bound  up  more  inextricably  than  ever 
with  the  ancient  quarrel  between  papacy  and  empire. 
Toward  the  end  of  thej-gign  of  Frederick  IJ,  that  ex- 

lj£^was_a_prophecy  of 


__ 
the  modern  world,  the  relations  of  this  sovereign  with  the 

*  Villani,  "Cronica,"  Libro  VI,  chap.  76.  Interesting  additions  and  cor- 
rections of  Villani's  description  in  Davidsohn,  pp.  691-92.  Siena  preserves  an 
interesting  relic  of  its  carroccio  in  the  two  tall,  age-browned  poles  to  be  seen 
in  the  cathedral,  clamped  against  the  piers  of  the  cupola.  These  poles  once 
served  as  the  masts  which  crowned  the  Sienese  carroccio,  and  from  them 
waved  proudly  the  standards  of  the  city. 


THE  RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      169 

pope  became  embittered  to  the  point  of  irreconcilability, 
witrTtrVe  consequence  that  the  quarrel  of  the  two  heads 
of  society  wasT  reflected  in  every  Italian  town  in  fresh 
and  ever  more  ferocious  broils  between  Guelphs  and 
Ghibellines. In  Florence,  in  the  year  1248,  the  Ghibel- 
lines, encourage3^Kv^rederickTiirnseTf7^rove  out  tfce 
Guelphs,  but  in  1251,  after  the  death  of  Frederick,  the 
Guelphs  acquiFed  the  ascendency  and  drove  out  the 
GhiEellines. As  soon  as  these  (jhibelllne  exiles  allied 
themselves  with  Ghibelline  Siena,  which  they  straight- 
way proceeded  to  do,  the  occasion  was  supplied  for 
another  war.  It  broke  out  in  1251,  led  to  fresh  Floren- 
tine victories,  and  ended  (1254)  ignominiously  for  Siena 
by  a  renewed  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the 
coveted  Montepulciano  and  Montalcino.  Owing  to  the 
temporary  elimination  of  the  empire  from  the  affairs  of 
Italy,  Siena  felt  so  completely  crushed  that  she  presently 
(1255)  joined  with  Florence  in  what  in  the  grotesque 
jargon  of  the  jurists  was  called  "an  eternal  league  of 
love."  In  addition  to  the  pledge  to  support  one  another 
in  the  case  of  war,  each  city  agreed  neither  to  receive 
within  its  walls  nor  to  shelter  in  its  district  tlnefuorusciti, 
that  is,  the  rebels  of  the  other. 

Here  was  what,  on  the  surface  at  least,  looked  like 
unexampled  harmony  between  the  ancient  rivals,  but  it 
was  rendered  vain  by  the  fact  that  it  was  not  the  result 
of  free  choice  but  of  victory  and  defeat.  The  test  of  the 
genuineness  of  the  new  friendship  came  soon  enough. 
In  the  year  1258  the  Florentine  Ghibellines  who,  as 
happened  often  enough,  had  been  temporarily  recon- 
ciled to  their  Guelph  opponents,  grew  restive.  They 
entertained  hopes  associated  with  a  Hohenstaufen 


170  SIENA 

revival,  of  which  we  shall  presently  hear,  plotted  unsuc- 
cessfully against  their  city,  and,  finally,  in  order  to  save 
their  lives,  decided  on  a  general  exodus.  At  the  head  of 
the  Florentine  Ghibellines  was  the  Uberti  family,  of 
which  the  leading  member  was  Manente,  known  as 
Farinata.  He,  together  with  many  relatives  and 
friends,  made  his  way  to  Siena,  and,  contrary  to  solemn 
treaty  obligations,  was  eagerly  made  welcome.  There- 
with another  casus  belli  was  at  hand.  The  Farinata 
degli  Uberti,  who  in  clanking  armor  rode  into  Siena 
with  indignation  against  his  native  city  smouldering 
like  a  live  coal  in  his  heart,  was  the  same  person  whom 
Dante,  meeting  in  Hell,  has  limned  for  us  with  his  un- 
erring stroke:  he  rose  from  his  pit  of  flame,  says  the 
admiring  poet,  with  an  action  "come  avesse  lo  inferno 
in  gran  dis petto"  What  a  man  to  know  more  of,  if 
only  the  documents  were  not  silent  or  almost  silent  con- 
cerning him!  The  new  war  led  to  Montaperti  and  its 
glories.  Hitherto  for  a  period  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  the  Sienese  had  been  almost  uninterruptedly 
beaten.  It  was  with  them  as  with  the  Celts  of  whom 
a  countryman  once  tragically  said:  "they  went  forth 
to  war,  but  they  always  fell."  And  now  Time  brought 
its  revenge. 

Before  taking  up  the  story  of  Montaperti  *  we  must 
cast  a  glance  at  the  general  politics  of  Italy  as  they  had 
developed  after  the  deatk,  in  the  year  1250,  of  Emperor 
Frederick  II.  With  the  withdrawal  of  his  hand  from 
the  helm,  the  fortunes  of  the  empire  had  sunk  very  low, 


*  On  the  campaign  culminating  in  Montaperti  consult  Paoli,  "La  Bat- 
taglia  di  Montaperti";  Langton  Douglas,  "A  History  of  Siena,"  chap.  VII; 
and  Davidsohn,  "Geschichte  von  F.,"  II  ',  p.  460  ff. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      171 

and  the  church  party  might  reasonably  flatter  itself  that 
its  cause  had  triumphed.  However,  the  dynasty  of 
the  Hohenstaufen  still  survived,  its  main  representative 
being  Frederick's  acknowledged  heir,  Conrad,  whom 
the  sovereign,  even  in  his  lifetime,  had  established  in 
Germany  to  rule  that  country  in  his  name.  Shortly 
after  the  death  of  his  father  Conrad  came  across  the  Alps 
to  assume  his  Italian  heritage  of  Sicily,  but  had  hardly 
received  the  crown  when  he  died  (1254).  Even  this 
premature  death  did  not  dispose  of  the  family,  for 
Conrad,  on  leaving  Germany,  had  left  behind  a  son  and 
heir,  known  to  fame  as  Conradin.  For  the  present 
certainly,  this  lad,  being  still  confined  to  the  nursery, 
was  eliminated  from  the  situation,  and  victorous  Rome 
was  the  undisputed  mistress  of  the  peninsula.  So  at 
least  thought  the  pope,  making  his  reckoning  without 
another  son  of  the  great  Frederick,  Manfred,  who  was 
treated  as  a  negligible  branch  of  the  imperial  tree, 
because  he  had  been  born  to  the  emperor  out  of  wedlock. 
On  the  death  of  Conrad,  Manfred,  his  younger  half- 
brother,  full  of  the  pride  of  race,  seized  the  Sicilian 
crown  for  himself,  drove  the  papal  agents,  who  had  come 
to  claim  the  prize,  from  his  dominion,  and  by  his  bril- 
liant successes  against  the  forces  of  the  pope,  stimulated 
the  depressed  Ghibellines  throughout  Italy  to  new  life. 
Without  Manfred's  unexpected  triumphs  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  Florentine  Ghibellines  would  have  plotted 
against  their  city,  or  that  Siena  would  have  affronted 
Florence  by  receiving,  contrary  to  treaty,  Farinata  and 
the  other  exiles  within  her  walls.  That  act  declared  as 
plain  as  words  that  the  City  of  the  Virgin,  rising  from 
its  disgrace,  again  assumed  the  championship  of 


172  SIENA 

Ghibellinism  in  Tuscany,  and,  putting  its  reliance  in 
Manfred  and  his  mounting  fortunes,  was  ready  once 
more  to  try  conclusions  with  its  Arno  rival.  To  so  bold 
a  provocation  Florence  could  respond  only  with  war. 

The  year  1230,  was  largely  spent  in  preparations. 
The  earlier  wars,  as  we  have  seen,  had  rarely  been 
re^trictedl^^ejialaDxLJikar^ncey^a^  many  neighbors 
wj^pr_without_th_eir  iconsent,  had  heeri^sudcedinto^the 
maelstrom.  The  present  war,  more  than  any  ofits  pred- 
ecessors,  affected  all  Tuscany,  for  the  papacy  and  the 
empire  were  involved,  and  with  them  every  petty 

-•i  i   .I  _______    —  ,-»  ------  ••  ------  ••  •  ^  i       i     ^^^ 

Guelph  and  Ghibelline  partisan.    Florence  could  declare 

tl\at  she  was  fighting  nnf  nply  for  kerself^hiit 

i       L         —  r  —  Q-  -  —  —  -*9      ~  y 


i       L         —  r 

great  cause  of  the  church.  By  such  an  appeal  she  suc- 
ceeded in  cementing  a  league  of  Tuscan  Guelphs,  which 
included  the  chief  cities  of  the  province,  for  Tuscany  at 
this  time,  owing  to  the  continued  success  of  the  church, 
had  almost  entirely  gone  over  to  the  victorious  side. 
Even  Pisa,  traditionally  attached  to  the  empire,  seems 
to  Jiave^  remained  neutral  on  this  occasion,  owing  to  a 
cloud  of  distrust  which  had  arisen  between  it  and 
Manfred.^  Thus  Siena  stood,  to  all  intents,  alone. 
Triumphant  Florence,  not  satisfied  with  the  preponder- 
ance secured  by  her  many  Guelph  alliances,  did  not  fail 
to  make  her  usual  appeal  to  the  insidious  agent,  treason. 
She  incited  Montalcino  and  Montepulciano  to  make 
common  cause  with  her,  and  successfully  encouraged 
Grosseto  and  the  whole  Maremma  region  to  rise  in 
rebellion.  Caught  between  the  army  of  the  Guelphs 
and  the  disturbances  in  her  own  house,  Siena's  doom 
seemed  at  hand. 

In  these  straits  she  turned  eagerly  to  King  Manfred. 


The  Palazzo  Tolomei 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      173 

Was  she  not  fighting  his  battle  and  that  of  the  Ghibelline 
cause  ?  Would  he  permit  the  one  strong  pillar  of  his 
throne  in  central  Italy  to  be  broken  ?  In  May,  1259, 
King  Manfred  and  Siena  entered  into  a  league,  by  which 
the  young  sovereign,  in  return  for  the  oath  of  fealty  and 
obedience,  took  Siena  under  his  protection.  In  sign  of 
good  faith  he  sent  northward,  with  a  small  troop  of 
German  men-at-arms,  his  near  relative,  an  experienced 
warrior  and  a  man  of  parts,  Giordano,  Count  of  San 
Severino.  In  December  Giordano  rode  through  the 
gate  of  Siena  amidst  the  cheers  of  the  citizens.  Elated 
by  this  evidence  of  the  king's  good  will,  the  Sienese  im- 
mediately ordered  an  expedition  against  rebellious 
Grosseto,  and  in  February,  1260,  after  a  short  siege, 
once  more  took  the  troublesome  coast  town  in  posses- 
sion. They  had  followed  up  this  success  by  laying 
siege  to  Montemassi,  another  rebel  town  of  the  Marem- 
ma,  when  they  received  the  news  that  the  Guelph  army 
had  set  out  from  Florence.  The  campaign  had  opened 
in  earnest. 

On  April  19,  the  Florentines  with  the  carroccio  in  their 
midst,  and  attended  by  allies  who  swelled  the  total 
number  of  the  army  to  thirty  thousand  men,  marched 
by  the  Elsa  valley  to  meet  the  enemy.  Two  courses 
were  open  to  them :  either  to  proceed  to  the  Maremma 
to  support  the  rebellion  there,  or  to  strike  straight  at 
Siena  herself.  Unable  to  make  up  their  minds  swiftly, 
they  let  the  favorable  moment  pass  and  turned  against 
Siena  when  it  was  too  late  to  take  the  city  by  surprise. 
On  May  17,  they  appeared  before  the  Porta  Camollia 
only  to  find  the  gate  barred  and  the  Sienese  ready  to 
receive  them.  The  very  next  day  a  small  company  of 


174  SIENA 

Giordano's  Germans  made  a  sudden  sortie,  carrying 
all  before  them  until  they  came  upon  the  bulk  of  the 
Florentine  army,  which  succeeded  in  repulsing  them  and 
in  capturing  one  of  their  banners.  The  jubilant  Floren- 
tines gave  vent  to  their  animosity  by  dragging  the  royal 
standard  through  the  mud  of  the  highway.  Still  the 
valor  of  the  enemy  must  have  made  a  deep  impression 
on  them,  for  they  immediately  withdrew  to  a  safe  dis- 
tance, raised  the  siege,  if  siege  it  may  be  called,  and 
before  the  end  of  May  were  once  more  safe  at  home. 
Their  triumphal  entrance  into  Florence  with  Manfred's 
captured  banner  flattered  the  love  of  "pompa  e  gran- 
digia"  characteristic  of  the  age,  but  hardly  concealed 
the  fact  of  the  substantial  failure  of  the  expedition.  The 
first  engagement  of  the  year  was  over. 

If  the  Sienese  had  won  no  decisive  success  in  the 
recent  campaign  they  had  at  least  gained  time.  And 
time,  in  view  of  the  double  task  upon  their  hands  of 
foreign  war  and  local  insurrections,  was  everything. 
At  this  auspicious  moment,  spreading  encouragement 
and  arousing  an  immense  enthusiasm,  additional 
German  men-at-arms  arrived  in  the  city,  sent  by  Man- 
fred and  conducted  to  Tuscany  by  that  valiant  Sienese, 
Provenzano  Salvani,  whose  energy  and  courage  made 
him  the  natural  leader  of  his  countrymen  in  the  hour  of 
peril.  Accordingly  the  people  resolved  to  improve  the 
lull  in  the  war  with  Florence  by  renewed  measures 
against  the  rebels  of  the  contado.  Great  in  those 
summer  months  was  the  Sienese  activity,  and  great,  too, 
the  Sienese  success.  Not  only  did  the  citizens  once 
more  reduce  the  Maremma  to  obedience,  but  they 
subjected  the  fields  about  Montepulciano  to  an  awful 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      175 

harrying  by  means  of  an  expedition,  equipped,  we  hear, 
with  one  thousand  new  sickles  to  be  tried  upon  the 
standing  corn,  and  their  energy  spread  such  terror  that 
they  actually  broke,  in  the  month  of  July,  the  resistance 
of  the  town.  To  this  long  chain  of  triumphs  it  remained 
only  to  add  the  capture  of  the  passionately  desired  and 
passionately  hated  Montalcino.  In  the  course  of  the 
summer  the  hill-town  was  subjected  to  a  vigorous  siege. 

It  was  the  news  that  this  stronghold  was  about  to 
fall*  that  stirred  the  Florentines  to  take  the  field  once 
more.  Toward  the  end  of  August  they  left  their  city, 
resolved  to  relieve  and  reprovision  threatened  Montal- 
cino. As  their  way  would  take  them  past  Siena,  some 
of  the  more  sanguine  leaders  doubtless  hoped  to 
frighten  the  enemy  into  submission  by  a  show  of 
numbers,  for  well-equipped  contingents  from  Prato, 
Lucca,  Volterra,  Arezzo,  Colle,  San  Gimignano,  and 
even  distant  Bologna,  swelled  the  army  of  the  Floren- 
tines, as  it  poured  out  of  the  gates,  while  troops  from 
Orvieto  and  Perugia  joined  it  on  the  march.  A  second 
time  within  five  months  all  Tuscany,  ranked  and  in- 
vincible, a  host  composed  of  probably  no  less  than 
seventy  thousand  fighting  men,  came  sweeping  down 
upon  Siena. 

This  time  the  Florentines  took  the  shorter  route,  not 
marching  by  the  Elsa  valley  as  in  the  spring,  but  follow- 
ing the  Val  di  Pesa  across  the  Chianti  range,  and  on 
September  2  were  at  Pieve  Asciata  with  many- 
towered  Siena  full  in  sight  on  its  high  ridge,  covered 
with  green  vineyards  interspersed  with  rows  of  silvery 

*  Hartwig,  "Quellen  und  Forschungen,"  II,  p.  309,  is  very  convincing  on 
this  point. 


176  SIENA 

olives.  Their  exultation  was  immense,  the  victory  in 
their  eyes  as  good  as  won.  Only  this  profound  assur- 
ance can  explain  the  course  which  they  now  followed, 
for  they  dispatched  two  ambassadors  to  Siena  to  demand 
in  insolent  terms  the  immediate  surrender  of  the  town, 
and  then  moving  leisurely  across  the  Arbia,  they  pitched 
camp  on  a  plain  called  le  Cortine,  and  awaited  the  re- 
turn of  their  messengers.  The  plain  was  at  the  foot  of 
a  barren  range  of  chalk  hills,  which  bore  the  name  of 
Monteselvoli  and  looked  across  the  valley  of  the  Arbia 
to  Siena.  There  we  will  leave  them  while  we  follow 
their  ambassadors  into  the  city. 

On  arriving  in  the  town  the  Florentine  spokesmen 
were  led  before  the  Twenty-four,  the  governors  of  the 
city,  and  haughtily  presented  their  message.  In  the 
name  of  their  countrymen  they  commanded  that  the 
walls  be  torn  down  in  several  places,  in  order  that  the 
Florentines  might  enter  the  city  wherever  they  pleased, 
and,  further,  they  continued,  "we  desire  to  put  a  com- 
mission in  every  terzo  of  Siena  and  to  erect  a  fortress 
in  Camporeggi  .  .  .  ;  and  with  regard  to  these  mat- 
ters we  desire  an  answer,  which  not  being  satisfac- 
tory, our  army  shall  fall  upon  you  with  the  greatest 
cruelty."*  Having  dismissed  the  insolent  envoys  with 
a  dignified  response,  the  Sienese  governors  began  feverish 
preparations  of  defense,  encouraged  at  every  step  by  the 
splendid  spirit  shown  by  Giordano,  King  Manfred's 


*  My  quotations  on  Montaperti  are  from  two  Sienese  chronicles  published 
by  Porri  in  his  "Miscellanea  Storica  Sanese,"  in  1844.  The  first  goes  under 
the  name  of  Domenico  Aldobrandini ;  the  second  under  that  of  Niccolo 
Ventura.  They  are  both  of  the  fifteenth  century  and  are  patently  elabora- 
tions of  an  earlier  lost  original,  probably  contemporary  or  almost  contempo- 
rary with  Montaperti 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      177 

vicar,  and  his  tried  corps  of  eight  hundred  German 
men-at-arms.  A  pressing  need  was  money.  But  the 
call  for  a  loan  had  hardly  gone  forth  when  up  rose  in 
the  Council  Salimbene  Salimbeni  and  made  offer  of  the 
whole  sum  wanted — 118,000  gold  florins.  Salimbene 
was  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  Sienese 
merchant  companies,  which  thus  demonstrated  in  his 
person  that  money  had  not  destroyed  their  patriotism 
nor  undermined  their  courage.  "And  immediately  the 
said  Salimbene  went  to  his  palace  for  the  money  and 
put  it  in  a  cart  covered  with  crimson  cloth  and  decked 
with  branches  of  olive,  and  so  brought  the  money  to  San 
Cristofano,"*  where  the  Twenty-four  were  in  session. 
Financial  provision  thus  made  and  the  Germans  heart- 
ened with  double  pay,  the  rulers  appointed  Buonaguida 
Lucari  as  syndic  with  full  powers.  And  he,  seized 
with  a  sudden  inspiration,  addressed  himself  to  the  vast 
concourse  which  had  gathered  in  the  piazza  before  the 
church,  inviting  his  fellow-citizens  to  attend  him  in  a 
procession  to  the  duomo,  in  order  to  deliver  the  city, 
in  its  hour  of  need,  into  the  keeping  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 
How  Buonaguida  stripped  himself  to  his  shirt  and  with 
his  girdle  round  his  neck,  like  a  halter,  and,  followed  by 
the  whole  town  crying  misericordia,  misericordia,  made 
his  way  to  the  cathedral,  and  how  the  bishop  and  clergy 
received  him  at  the  high  altar,  and  how  the  act  of  dedi- 
cation was  effected,  we  have  followed  in  another  con- 
nection. "And  they  made  peace  with  one  another,  and 
he  who  had  been  most  offended  sought  out  his  enemy  to 
make  peace  with  him."f  And  thus  passed  Thursday 
the  second  of  September. 

*  "Ventura,"  p.  39.  t  "Ventura,"  p.  45. 


178  SIENA 

Early  the  next  morning  the  Twenty-four  sent  three 
heralds,  one  to  each  terzo,  who  ordered  the  army  of 
citizens  straight  to  make  ready.  Then  every  man 
joined  his  company,  and  the  companies  gathered  ac- 
cording to  terzi,  as  was  the  custom,  and  presently  the 
host  marched  out  of  the  gate  of  Santo  Viene,  first  the 
terzo  of  San  Martino  under  its  banner,  then  the  terzo 
of  Citta  under  its  banner,  and  finally,  the  terzo  of 
Camellia  under  its  ancient  standard  of  pure  white; 
and  this,  says  the  chronicler,  "gave  much  comfort,  for  it 
seemed  like  the  mantle  of  the  Virgin  Mary."  Thus 
passed  the  general  muster  of  the  Sienese  strengthened 
by  a  few  allies,  such  as  King  Manfred's  Germans,  Count 
Aldobrandino  of  the  powerful  Maremma  family,  who  at 
Giordano's  solicitation  had  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
Ghibellines,  and  Farinata  with  the  Florentine  exiles. 
As  no  city  of  any  importance  had  sided  with  Siena,  the 
Ghibelline  host  could  hardly  have  exceeded  twenty 
thousand  horse  and  foot,  leaving  it  numerically  in  con- 
siderable inferiority  to  the  army  of  the  Guelphs.  The 
leader  of  the  citizen  forces  was  probably,  according  to 
the  terms  of  the  constitution,  the  potesta,  one  Francesco 
Troghisio,  who  owed  his  appointment  to  King  Manfred, 
although,  curiously  enough,  the  chronicles  agree  in 
committing  the  chief  command  of  the  Sienese  to  Count 
Aldobrandino,  hardly  to  be  styled  a  consistent  friend  of 
the  commune.*  As  commander-in-chief  of  the  whole 
host  of  Ghibellines  figured,  of  course,  King  Manfred's 
vicar  in  Tuscany,  the  valiant  Count  Giordano. 

*  According  to  a  theory,  defended  by  Hartwig,  II,  p.  310,  the  potesta  was 
not  in  command  at  Montaperti,  because  with  another  section  of  the  Sienese 
army  he  was  conducting  the  <yege  of  Montalcino. 


Conio  °          o 

'    Vagliali 


Probable  southern  boundarj'  of  the  combined  County  of  Florence- 
Hiesole 

The  boundary  between  Florence  and  Siena  as  claimed  by  Florence 
and  drawn  by  the  treaty  (lodo)  of  1203 


The  CHIANTI  BOUNDARY  between  FLORENCE  and  SIENA 


Battle  of  MONTAPERTI 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      179 

As  the  day  was  already  far  advanced  the  army  pro- 
ceeded only  a  short  distance  beyond  Siena  to  the  low 
range  of  Monteropoli.  There  it  pitched  camp,  with 
the  enemy  at  the  foot  of  Monteselvoli  in  full  sight  and 
separated  from  him  only  by  the  shallow  stream  of  the 
Arbia  and  its  valley.  The  next  morning  the  Ghibelline 
leaders  were  resolved  to  launch  their  attack.  That  night 
while  the  Florentine  camp  was  kept  in  constant  alarm 
by  the  sudden  swoop  of  small  bands  of  horsemen,  the 
Sienese  rested  quietly.  Then  it  was  that  a  white  mist 
was  seen  to  float  over  the  host.  Many  anxious  people, 
sisters  and  wives,  peering  into  the  darkness  from  the 
ramparts  of  Siena  wondered  at  this  phenomenon,  "and 
some  said  that  it  is  the  smoke  of  the  great  fires  lit  by  the 
Sienese  folk.  Others  said:  'Not  so,  for  smoke  would 
drift,  and  this  rests  fast  as  you  see;  surely  it  is  other 
than  smoke.'  Still  others  said :  '  It  is  the  mantle  of  our 
mother,  the  Virgin  Mary.'"  *  So  passed  the  night  of 
the  third  of  September. 

When  the  next  day  dawned  the  Sienese  commanders 
made  ready  for  battle.  Behind  the  camp  of  the  Floren- 
tines the  sun  had  not  yet  risen  and  the  barren  chalk 
hills  beyond  the  Arbia,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  tents  of 
the  enemy  were  spread,  looked  bleak  as  a  desert  in  the 
cold  light  of  morning.  Three  corps,  with  a  fourth  to 
act  as  reserve,  were  rapidly  formed.  The  first,  led  by 
Count  Arras,  Giordano's  seneschal,  was  ordered  to 
make  a  wide  detour  and  lie  quietly  in  ambush  behind 
the  hills  under  the  Florentine  left  until  the  favorable 
moment  came.  This  was  an  unusual  piece  of  tactics 
for  those  simple,  forthright  days  of  the  military  art,  and 

*  "Aldobrandini,"  p.  10. 


180  SIENA 

probably  decided  the  issue.  The  second  troop  was  led 
by  Count  Giordano,  the  third  by  Count  Aldobrandino, 
and  the  reserve  by  Messer  Niccolo  da  Bigozzi,  a  worthy 
Sienese.  Then  before  the  order  to  attack  was  given,  the 
wise  quartermasters  provided  a  copious  breakfast  of 
various  kinds  of  roast  meat  and  "perfectly  matured" 
wines  and  the  finest  bread.  "  And  the  Germans  danced  a 
beautiful  dance  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  song  which 
in  our  language  began :  soon  shall  we  see  what  hap  may 
fall.***  Thus  encouraged  with  feast  and  music  the 
Ghibellines  were  no  longer  to  be  restrained,  but  pres- 
ently poured  across  the  Arbia,  and  in  passionate  haste 
but  excellent  order  began  to  mount  the  slopes  of  Monte- 
selvoli,  rushing  straight  upon  the  Florentines.  These, 
ranged  by  their  leaders  along  the  crest,  awaited  the 
attack  from  their  point  of  vantage. 

Just  as  Giordano's  cavalry,  which  held  the  van,  was 
about  to  open  battle,  behold  my  lord  Harry  of  Asten- 
berg  make  his  way  to  the  side  of  his  captain  and  "with 
deep  bow  pronounce  these  words:  'All  our  house  of 
Astenberg  is  privileged  by  the  Holy  Empire  to  strike 
the  first  blow  in  every  battle,  and  this  favor,  I  pray,  you 
grant  unto  me.'  And  it  was  granted.  Whereupon  my 
lord  Walter,  nephew  of  the  aforesaid  lord  Harry,  dropped 
from  his  horse  to  earth,  and  on  his  knees  spoke  thus  to 
his  uncle:  'Whoever  receives  favors  should  be  disposed 
to  grant  them.  Be  pleased  that  I,  in  your  stead,  be  the 
first  to  lower  lance.'  Which  my  lord  Harry  conceded, 
and  kissed  and  blessed  him.  And  my  lord  Walter 
leaped  on  his  horse,  and  thanked  his  uncle  for  the  honor, 
and  put  his  helmet  on  his  head,  and  was  off  at  the  in- 

*  "Ventura,"  p.  61. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      181 

stant";*  and  after  him  rushed  lord  Harry  with  Count 
Giordano  and  his  Germans,  and  after  them  came 
Count  Aldobrandino  with  his  troop,  and  finally  all  the 
people  of  Siena  on  foot  shouting  amain  alia  morte, 
alia  morte.  Thus,  the  sun  looking  on  from  the  east, 
the  battle  was  engaged  on  Saturday,  September  the 
fourth. 

Battles  in  those  days  were  usually  decided  by  sheer 
push  of  men  on  horse  and  foot.  What  happened  on  the 
slopes  of  Monteselvoli  during  the  long  hours  while  the 
sun  rose  to  the  zenith  and  sank  westward  toward  Siena 
may  be  left  to  the  imagination.  Deeds  of  blood  were 
done,  deeds  of  savage  courage  which  fill  many  pages  of 
glowing  description  in  the  old  chroniclers.  Suffice  it  for 
us  that  the  day  was  probably  decided  by  the  turning 
movement  of  Count  Arras.  After  an  interval,  when  the 
two  swaying  lines  of  battle  had  had  time  to  grow  ex- 
hausted, he  rose  from  his  ambush  and  suddenly  fell 
upon  the  rear  of  the  Florentines.  An  immediate  con- 
fusion ensued.  The  Guelph  horse  was  overwhelmed, 
and  presently  the  great  standard,  carried  by  Messer 
Jacopo  de'Pazzi,  fell  to  earth;  down  it  went  by  act  of 
foulest  treason,  says  the  Florentine,  Villani,  unwilling 
to  believe  that  his  people  could  ever  be  beaten  in  fair 
fight  by  mere  provincial  Sienese,  and  convinced  and 
ready  to  convince  others  with  copious  detail  that  Pazzi 
had  his  hand  hewn  off  by  a  false  friend  at  his  back. 
And  Dante,  another  patriotic  Florentine,  holding  the 
same  belief,  met  the  traitor,  one  Bocca  degli  Abbati, 
frozen  in  the  ice  of  deepest  hell,  and  struck  his  foot  into 
his  face.f  Treason  or  no  treason,  the  attack  of  the 

*  "Aldobrandini,"  p.  19.  f  "Inferno,"  XXXII,  76 /. 


182  SIENA 

Ghibelline  cavalry  drove  the  Florentine  men-at-arms 
from  the  field.  Discouraged,  seized  with  panic,  they 
dug  their  spurs  into  their  horses,  leaving  the  Florentine 
foot  to  save  themselves  as  best  they  could.  With 
splendid  courage  the  Arno  commoners  gathered 
around  their  carroccio,  blindly  resolved  to  save  the 
honor  of  the  day.  But  the  Sienese,  rejuvenated  by 
,the  consciousness  of  victory,  swarmed  about  them 
from  all  sides.  In  the  gulches  of  the  Malena,  a 
small  stream  which  empties  into  the  Arbia,  a  slaughter 
ensued  which  colored  the  water  red  and  piled  the 
corpses  in  pyramids.  "And  how  many  died  God 
knows,  for  they  were  not  heard  when  they  shouted :  I 
surrender.  .  .  .  Nor  did  it  avail  to  call  for  aid  upon 
San  Zenobio  and  Santa  Reparata" — home  saints  of  the 
Florentines,  plainly  poor  stuff  compared  with  Siena's 
Virgin — "for  the  Sienese  slaughtered  them  as  butchers 
slaughter  their  cattle  on  Holy  Friday."*  At  last  the 
Ghibelline  leaders  took  compassion,  and  gave  orders 
that  the  butchery  cease,  and  that  who  would,  be  taken 
captive.  Whereupon  the  Florentines  in  their  joy  bound 
one  another  in  order  to  save  their  lives.  And  to  supply 
the  touch  of  comedy  which  is  certain  to  intrude  upon 
the  gravest  moments  of  the  human  drama,  Usiglia, 
the  ancient  vivandiere,  took  and  bound  with  her  head- 
band (benda)  thirty-six  prisoners  and  led  them  off  to 
camp  like  a  string  of  geese.  Ten  thousand  enemies 
or  thereabouts  lay  stretched  upon  the  field,  while 
twenty  thousand  prisoners  and  untold  quantities  of 
arms,  tents,  and  provisions  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors. 

*  "Ventura,"  p.  68. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      183 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Malena,  across  which  a 
handful  of  Guelphs  had  made  their  escape,  took  place 
the  closing  episode.  There  on  a  hill,  crowned  with  a 
castle  known  as  Montaperti,  the  weary  fugitives  made 
a  last  stand,  but  before  night  fell  they  accepted  the  offer 
of  the  victors  and  surrendered  at  discretion.  The 
inconspicuous  mound,  at  the  foot  of  which  the  battle 
expired,  has  given  its  name  to  the  historic  conflict. 

All  that  day  an  immense  suspense  hung  over  Siena 
deserted  by  the  male  half  of  its  inhabitants.  The 
bishop,  surrounded  by  the  clergy  and  the  women,  prayed 
or  moved  in  solemn  procession  from  church  to  church. 
The  less  contemplative — chiefly  old  men  and  children — 
gathered  at  the  foot  of  the  tower  of  the  Marescotti,  from 
the  top  of  which  Cerreto  Ceccolini,  the  drummer,  spying 
eastward,  gave  out  the  news.  The  battle  was  waged 
only  three  miles  away  as  the  crow  flies,  and  Cerreto's 
expert  vision  detected  every  capital  movement  among 
the  barren,  sun-lit  hills.  Beating  the  drum  at  each 
announcement  he  shouted:  "They  mount  the  slopes  of 
Monteselvoli;  our  line  gives  way,  no,  it  is  theirs";  and, 
finally,  "their  banners  fall,  they  are  broken,  they  are 
broken ! "  A  day,  we  can  fancy,  far  more  terrible  to  those 
left  behind  than  to  them  who  stood  in  the  heat  of  the 
fray. 

That  night  the  victorious  host  rested  in  its  old  camp 
on  Monteropoli,  but  the  next  day,  Sunday,  the  fifth, 
rising  early,  it  wound  back  to  Siena  to  make  a  triumphal 
entry  by  the  ancient  gate  of  Santo  Viene.  By  this  gate, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  before,  the  bones  of  Sant' 
Ansano  had  been  brought  from  their  resting-place, 
hardly  a  bow's  shot  from  the  bloody  battle-field,  back 


184  SIENA 

to  the  city  he  had  loved.  Pious  songs  of  gladness  had 
greeted  his  home-coming;  the  victors,  returning  from 
Montaperti,  where  they  had  staked  their  wives  and 
children  on  a  throw  of  the  dice,  brought  and  loosed  an 
ecstasy  of  joy.  At  the  head  of  the  line  came  one  of  the 
Florentine  ambassadors  who  had  made  the  haughty 
demand  for  immediate  submission.  He  sat  bound, 
face  about,  on  an  ass,  from  the  tail  of  which  dangled, 
bespattered  with  the  mud  of  the  highway,  the  great 
standard  of  the  commune  of  Florence.  Then  came 
Giordano  and  his  Germans,  crowned  with  olive  and 
singing  clear  songs  in  their  own  tongue;  close  behind 
followed  the  victorious  carroccio,  after  which  trailed  in 
huddled  groups  thousands  of  anguished  prisoners;  and, 
finally,  amidst  wild  jubilation,  marched  past  the  citizen- 
soldiers  of  Siena,  the  fathers,  sons,  and  brothers  of  the 
intoxicated  multitude.  The  host  went  first  to  the 
cathedral  to  return  thanks  to  the  Virgin  for  the  protec- 
tion she  had  afforded  her  people,  and  then  for  three  days 
the  victory  was  celebrated  with  prayers  and  games  and 
every  form  of  joy  and  gratitude. 

It  remained  to  reap  the  harvest  of  the  unparalleled 
success.  On  September  8  Montalcino  surrendered. 
A  deputation  of  citizens  to  the  number  of  four  hundred 
presented  themselves  in  the  Campo  of  Siena  and  with 
abject  mien  asked  for  mercy.  Montepulciano  had 
already  yielded  in  July,  some  months  before  Montaperti, 
but,  exasperated  by  the  hardness  of  the  victors,  it  rose 
once  more  in  revolt.  The  action,  hopeless  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, led  to  a  new  siege  and  a  new  surrender. 
On  July  5,  1261,  an  instrument  was  signed,  by  which 
the  town  agreed  to  offer  annually,  on  the  occasion  of 


o 

w 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      185 

the  August  festival,  a  candle  of  fifty  pounds,  and  to 
permit  the  Sienese  to  build  a  fortress  within  the  walls. 
Long  before  the  final  collapse  of  Montepulciano  a  cruel 
fate  had  overtaken  Florence.  Twelve  days  after 
Montaperti  Count  Giordano  entered  the  Arno  city  and 
turned  its  government  over  to  the  Ghibelline  exiles  who 
rode  in  his  train — Count  Guido  Novello,  Farinata  degli 
Uberti,  and  their  associates.  There  was  no  resistance; 
the  remaining  Guelph  leaders,  who  by  flight  had  saved 
themselves  from  the  ruin  of  Montaperti,  had,  on  Gior- 
dano's approach,  abandoned  the  city  without  a  struggle. 
The  Florentine  Ghibellines,  raised  once  more  to  power, 
had,  of  course,  to  show  themselves  thankful  to  their 
protectors,  the  commune  of  Siena.  On  November  25 
they  signed  a  treaty  renouncing  almost  all  the  advanced 
positions  which  Florence  had  gained  during  the  last 
hundred  years,  and  by  which  she  threatened  to  strangle 
her  south-Tuscan  rival.  The  treaty  not  only  cancelled 
all  Florentine  claims  in  Montalcino  and  Montepulciano, 
which  thus  at  last  were  delivered  over  to  Siena,  but  it 
gave  Siena  new  guarantees  along  her  northern  border 
by  obliging  Florence  to  withdraw  her  hand  from  Men- 
sano,  Casole,  Staggia,  and  Poggibonsi — a  line  of  points 
which  controlled  the  upper  valley  of  the  Elsa.  The 
document,  to  put  its  results  in  a  word,  realized  the  long 
standing  ambition  of  Siena  to  govern  its  own  county 
without  challenge  from  a  rival.  When  we  consider  that 
it  marks  no  effort  to  partition  the  territory  of  Florence 
in  order  permanently  to  reduce  the  Arno  city  from  its 
high  rank,  we  may  even  find  the  terms  of  the  peace  de- 
cidedly moderate.  A  group  of  uncompromising  Ghibel- 
lines indeed,  led  by  Count  Giordano,  were  for  levelling 


186  SIENA 

Florence,  the  secular  enemy  of  the  empire,  with  the 
earth,  but  Farinata  degli  Uberti  rose  in  the  council  of  the 
Ghibellines  at  this  suggestion  and,  with  his  hand  laid 
ominously  on  his  sword,  declared  that  he  would  defend 
his  native  city  from  such  a  fate  with  his  last  breath. 
Thus  Florence  survived,  without  being  even  notably 
diminished  in  its  territory,  but  for  the  time  being  the 
proud  town  was  unquestionably  subordinated  to  Siena, 
since  Siena  enjoyed  an  undisputed  primacy  in  Tuscany. 

The  sweeping  victory  of  Montaperti  soon  put  an  end 
to  Guelph  resistance  thrgu^ouF^central  Italy.  Town 
after  town,  following  the_Florejritine_  example7~purged 
itself  of  its  Guelph  faction,  declared  for^  Manfred  and 
Ghibeflin7sh%  and  "Joined  the  league  headed  by  King 
Manfred's  vtcar"arrd^th"e"Sienese.  Lucca  was  the  last 
to  yield,  Fut~'wTTen"th"ltR'e~yieairr"l264  the  Lucchese 
Guelphs,  despairing  of  ~f  urtheT~Fesistance,~  Y63e~sa3Iy 
across  the  Apennines  to  seek  sheTterTn  friendly  Bologna, 
all  Tuscany  was  gathered^  under  the  twin  banner  of 
Manfred  and  Siena. 

AsjtTie  rise  was  sudden,  so  was  the  overthrow.  Three 
blows,  falling  in  swTFt  succession,  sH;attered~trie  young 
paramountcy  of  the  city  of  the  Virgin,  and  shattered  it 
forever.  The  Urst  was  the  Fall  oF~MaTiirecf.  The 
implacable  pope,  unable  to  support  tHe 


ber  of  the  hated  race  of  the  Hohenstaufen  almost  under 
the  walls  of  Rome,  presently  invited  Charles  of  Anjou, 
brother  of  the  French  king,  to  cross  the  Alps  and  seize 
the  Sicilian  crQwji_ibxJiimseJ£  In  1265  Charles  fol- 
lowed  the  summons,  was  invested  by  Pope  Clement  IV 
with  the  southern  kingdom,  and  as  a  soldier  of  the 
church,  with  the  cross  upon  his  shoulder,  set  out  to 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH   FLORENCE      187 

destroy  "the  viper's  brood."  In  the  battle  of  Bene- 
ventum,  fought  on  February  26,  1266,  fortune  declared 
for  Anjou,  and  Manfred  himself  died  a  death  not  un- 
worthy of  his  race.  For  two  days  the  victor  searched 
the  battlefield  for  the  body  of  his  enemy.  At  last  it 
was  discovered  under  a  heap  of  the  dead,  naked  and 
hacked  almost  past  recognition.  To  effect  its  identifi- 
cation it  was  laid  out  before  the  victorious  Charles 
seated  among  his  courtiers,  while  a  number  of  captive 
barons  were  dragged  from  prison  into  the  usurper's 
presence.  Among  them  was  the  great-hearted  Giordano, 
Manfred's  cousin  and  his  some-time  vicar  in  Tuscany. 
Six  years  had  passed  since  his  star  stood  over  Monta- 
perti;  six  years  of  good  and  evil  fortune  had  brought  him 
here  to  the  bier  of  his  liege.  The  other  barons  on  being 
interrogated  maintained  a  timorous  attitude,  but  when, 
says  Villani,  the  turn  of  Giordano  came,  his  face  dropped 
into  his  hands  and  he  sobbed  aloud,  ome,  ome,  signor 
mio  * — a  cry  of  the  wounded  heart  that  almost  strips 
that  scene  of  horror  of  all  unloveliness! 

Beneventum  ended  the  predominance  of  the  Ghibel- 
line  league  of  Tuscany.  The  Guelphs  returned  to 
Florence,  the  Ghibellines  were  driven  out,  and  Siena, 
head  of  the  Ghibellines,  found  her  path  beset  with 
enemies.  Nevertheless  she  maintained  her  faith  in  the 
imperial  cause.  When  the  last  offspring  of  the  Suabian 
house,  Conradin,  a  lad  of  fifteen,  appeared  in  the  year 
1267  in  Italy,  she  received  him  with  loyal  rejoicing  and 
sped  him  with  many  a  prayer  upon  his  southward 
enterprise.  With  Ghibelline  supporters  collected  from 
all  parts  of  the  peninsula,  he  tried  the  hard  feat  of  dis- 

*  Villani,  "  Cronica,"  Libra  VII,  chap.  9. 


188  SIENA 

lodging  the  stout  Charles  of  Anjou  from  the  Sicilian 
kingdom,  and  met  a  fate  worse  than  the  worst  fears 
which  haunted  his  despairing  mother  on  his  setting  out. 
On  August  23,  1268,  he  was  defeated  by  Anjou  near 
Tagliacozzo,  escaped  from  that  bloody  field  only  to  be 
sold  to  the  victor  by  a  traitor,  and  a  few  months  later, 
on  the  present  market  square  of  Naples,  paid  for  his 
daring  with  his  head. 

Tagliacozzo  was  the  second  blow  which  staggered 
Siena  and  the  Ghibellines.  The  third  and  last  fell  in 
less  than  a  year's  time:  its  name  is  Colle. 

Even  the  disaster  of  Tagliacozzo  did  not  turn  Siena 
from  her  Ghibelline  convictions.  The  leader  of  the 
Twenty-four,  the  guiding  spirit  of  Siena  ever  since  the 
rise  of  Manfred,  had  been  Provenzano  of  the  noble 
house  of  the  Salvani.  In  the  summer  of  1260  we  saw 
him  lead,  amidst  rejoicing,  a  troop  of  Manfred's  horse 
into  the  city.  He  had  succeeded  in  popularizing 
Ghibellinism  in  Siena  and,  with  Ghibellinism,  himself. 
His  name  looms  large  in  the  public  records  of  the  day, 
but,  as  usual,  Dante  with  a  line  comes  nearer  to  making 
him  live  before  our  eyes,  than  repeated  entries  in  official 
documents.  He  tells  us  *  colui  .  .  .  Toscana  sonb 
tutta,  all  Tuscany  rang  with  his  name,  and  after  this 
introduction  to  the  blare  of  trumpets,  sketches  that 
imperishable  picture  of  the  proud  nobleman  stooping  to 
collect  alms  upon  the  Campo  from  every  passer-by,  in 
order  to  achieve  the  ransom  of  a  friend  languishing  in 
the  prisons  of  Anjou.  While  Provenzano  dominated 
the  government  of  Siena,  the  town  was  not  likely  to  sur- 
render its  convictions,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  Guelph 

*  "Purg,"  XI,  p. 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      189 

tide  was  steadily  mounting.  Tuscany  had  already  for 
the  most  part  subjected  itself  to  the  pope  and  to  his 
representative,  King  Charles  of  Anjou,  but  Pisa  and 
Siena,  with  the  courage  of  despair,  continued  to  pin 
their  faith  to  the  lost  imperial  cause.  Naturally  the 
exultant  Guelph  faction  believed  that  the  time  had  come 
to  bring  every  Ghibelline  stronghold  to  the  ground. 
From  Colle  on  the  Elsa,  which  was  held  by  the  Guelphs 
for  King  Charles,  and  where  some  of  the  Guelph 
fuorusciti  of  Siena  had  taken  residence,  they  harried 
the  country  around  Siena  and  undertook  incursions 
which  brought  them  to  the  very  walls  of  the  town. 
It  goes,  of  course,  without  saying  that  Ghibelline  Siena 
had  a  Guelph  faction  among  her  nobility,  just  as  Guelph 
Florence  had  a  Ghibelline  one.  In  June,  1269,  the 
government,  bent  on  punishing  the  repeated  Guelph  im- 
pertinences, dispatched  Provenzano  with  an  army  against 
Colle.  At  the  news  the  Florentines,  supported  by  some 
French  men-at-arms,  hurried  up,  and  in  the  ensuing 
encounter  (June  17,  1269)  the  Guelphs  wiped  out  the 
disgrace  of  Montaperti.  Provenzano  himself  was  slain, 
and  his  head,  set  on  a  pike,  was  carried  in  triumph 
through  the  streets  of  Colle.* 

Colle  destroyed  the  Sienese  fighting  force  almost  as 
effectively  as  Montaperti  had  destroyed  that  of  Florence. 


*  It  is  difficult  to  refrain  from  repeating  in  this  connection  a  story  of 
Provenzano  told  by  the  incomparable  Villani.  The  chronicler  believed,  as  a 
good  Florentine,  that  Provenzano  was  in  league  with  the  devil  and  tells 
(Libro  VII,  chap.  31)  how  Satan  enticed  him  into  the  Colle  expedition  with 
an  ambiguous  prophecy.  Of  course  Provenzano  insisted  exclusively  on  the 
favorable  reading,  and  was  promptly  caught  on  the  other  horn  of  the  Delphic 
prognostication.  Having  recounted  all  which  the  historian  adds  gravely 
by  way  of  warning  to  his  readers:  "Wherefore  it  is  folly  to  put  your  faith 
in  the  words  of  the  devil." 


190  SIENA 

For  some  months  Siena  continued  to  offer  a  despairing 
resistance,  until  in  the  summer  of  1270  the  French 
vicar  who  represented  King  Charles  in  Tuscany  com- 
pelled the  city  to  take  back  its  Guelph  exiles.  Presently 
the  Ghibelline  nobles  were  driven  from  the  town,  the 
government  of  the  Twenty-four,  identified  with  Ghibel- 
linism,  dissolved  itself,  and  Siena,  without  great  violence, 
under  the  steady  pressure  of  ineluctable  fate,  joined  the 
Guelph  league.  It  remained  for  a  Florentine  to  raise 
the  epitaph  over  the  fallen  foe.  With  calm  impudence 
Villani  rendered  the  significance  of  Colle  in  the  following 
words:  "The  Florentines  drove  the  Ghibellines  from 
Siena  and  pacified  the  two  communes.  They  have 
remained  friends  and  companions  in  arms  ever  since. 
And  thus  ended  the  war  between  Florence  and  Siena 
which  had  lasted  so  long  a  time." 

In  this  manner  Siena  turned  Guelph,  and  as  long  as 
she  remained  Guelph  was  doomed  to  rest  in  dependence 
on  Florence,  as  Florence  during  the  brief  ascendency 
of  Ghibellinism  had  been  dependent  on  Siena.  His- 
torians have  been  inclined  to  lament  the  conversion  of 
Siena  to  a  political  programme  which  put  her  in  an 
inferior  position.  As  if  it  could  have  been  avoided! 
Siena  yielded  to  77  avd\Ki],  the  great  god  Necessity.  It 
takes  no  profound  insight  to  recognize  that  the  success 
ojf^Florence  was  due  to  something  more  than  to  a  victory 
in  the  field,  tojomething  more  even  than  to  the  triumph 

of  the   rhiirrlv,  j-hpjally   r>f  plnrpnrp,    oypr   the   empire. 

Siena's   ally.     The   success  of  Florence  was   secured 

-.1     ..    .I     L. f^^    -.r-i-f .--.      in---   -  ...   -.„„.!-..,-.-. .-..-  m   _-.  -_--         -  __  _-.  .- -_.._.  !• 

primarily  by  her  economic  advantages,  buttressed  and 
affirmed  by~the  haH,  inflexible,  and  yet  adventurous 
temper  of  her  citizens.  Siena  went  down  under  a  decree 


THE   RIVALRY  WITH  FLORENCE      191 

of  fate,  but  she  went  down  heroically  in  company  with 
the_empire  ancTtKe~Rohenstaiifen,  in  whose  compelling 
tragedy  her  name  shines  out  with  the  immortal  candor 
attaching  to  fidelity  and  sacrifice. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  OF  THE  FOURTEENTH 

CENTURY:  THE  NINE,  THE  TWELVE, 

AND  THE  REFORMERS 

WE  have  seen  that  the  fall  of  the  great  Ghibelline 
'family,  the  Hohenstaufen,  brought_wjtli.it 
the  ovefthrow^or~Ghihel1inism  jtselT  Colle, 
the  special  blow  levelled  at  Tuscan  Ghibellinism,  was 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  Beneventum  and  Taglia- 
cozzo.  After  the  defeat  of  1269  Siena  was  obliged  to 
become  Guelph  if  she  would  continue  to  exist,  but  the 
transition  was  an  uneasy  and  bitter  experience.  The 
most  numerous  faction  of  her  nobility,  by  virtue  of  long 
association  and  feudal  prejudices,  held  Ghibelline  con- 
victions, and  the  common  people,  too,  inclined  to  the 
imperial  side,  from  sentiments  deriving  from  such  war- 
like memories  as  Montaperti,  but  chiefly  from  the  ancient 
and  ineradicable  hatred  of  Guelph  Florence.  For  these 
reasons  Siena  was  a  long  time  settling  down  to  a  steady 
Guelph  policy.  The  Ghibelline  and  Guelph  factions 
among  the  nobility  vented  their  spite  on  one  another  in 
murders  attended  by  the  usual  confiscations  and  banish- 
ments until  the  city  and  contado  were  reduced  to  a  state 
of  chronic  disorder.  This  confused  situation  at  last 
obliged  the  mezza  gente,  the  trading  middle  class,  to 
assert  itself.  Having  reached  the  conclusion  that  the 

192 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  193 

conditions  necessary  for  the  successful  prosecution  of 
business  could  be  secured  only  by  a  sincere  adhesion 
to  the  Guelph  party,  these  people  had  adopted  Guelph 
views.  They  waited  with  some  patience  for  the  nobility 
to  adjust  itself  to  the  new  situation,  but  when  the  feuds 
of  the  great  families  imperilled  the  whole  social  structure 
they  undertook  to  act  without  further  delay.  In  the 
year  1277,  as  we  noted  in  a  previous  chapter,  they  de- 
clared the  grandi  ineligible  to  office,  reserving  all  the 
state  dignities  to  themselves.  By  concentrating  the 
power  in  their  own  hands  they  hoped  to  be  able  to  over- 
awe the  nobility  and  secure  peace.  For  a  time  there 
was  a  fluctuation  in  the  number  of  men  on  the  committee 
entrusted  by  the  victors  with  the  executive  power,  but 
the  choice  settled  at  last  upon  nine.  Although  the 
mezza  gente  was  really  in  control  from  the  time 
when  the  exclusion  bill  against  the  nobility  went  into 
force,  the  regular  and  continuous  rule  of  I  Nove 
Governatori  e  Difenditorl  del  Comune  e  del  Popolo  di 
Siena  dates  from  the  year  1292.  Before  following 
the  incidents  connected  with  their  long  reign  we 
must  scrutinize  more  closely  the  foundation  of  their 
power. 

We  know  that  the  main  political  struggle  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  the  century  which  closed  with  the  tri- 
umph of  the  Nine,  had  Iain  between  the  nobility,  origin- 
ally in  possession  of  the  power,  and  a  party  of  the  people^ 
organized  expressly  for  the  conquest  of  the  commune; 
and  we  know  further  that  with  each  decade  the  nobility 
had  been  shut  within  more  and  more  narrow  limits, 
while  the  influence  of  the  people  had  grown  in  propor- 
tion as  their  enemies  had  declined.  The  exclusion  of 


194  SIENA 

the  nobility,  therefore,  in  1277  from  political  honors, 
bore  to  a  certain  extent  the  character  of  a  logical  evolu- 
tion, and  logical,  too,  we  are  ready  to  declare,  would 
have  been  a  democratic  regime  conducted  by  the  whole 
people.  However,  the  facts  do  not  accord  with  this 
last  deduction,  for  with  the  fall  of  the  grandi  not  the 
people,  but  only  a  section  of  the  people,  harvested  the 
fruits  of  victory.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek.  The 
people's  party — societas  populi — which  challenged  the 
nobility,  beginning  approximately  with  the  year  1213, 
was  a  union  of  the  local  military  companies,  each  of 
which  corresponded  in  the  main  to  a  ward  or  contrada 
of  the  city.  Thus  the  people's  party  was  in  effect  the 
Sienese  army  of  pedites  or  foot-soldiers,  but  though  in 
many  respects  a  vigorous  body,  it  was,  in  those  days  of 
great  material  poverty  and  small  political  experience, 
inevitably  manipulated  by  its  leading  citizens,  the  well- 
to-do  members  of  the  guilds.  In  the  turbulent  times 
following  the  Ghibelline  disaster  at  Colle  the  rich  popo- 
lani  stepped  forward,  and  favored  by  the  party  which 
had  been  behind  them  for  half  a  century,  seized  the 
reins  of  power.  Then,  enthroned  on  high,  they  forgot 
the  ladder  by  which  they  had  mounted.  An  act  of  re- 
volting ingratitude  if  you  will,  but  not  without  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  other  nations,  ancient  and  modern,  and 
particularly  characteristic  of  the  young  Italian  republics. 
The  mediaeval  city  was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  agglomera- 
tion of  diverse  groups,  which  had  formed  a  commune 
or  state  in  the  correct  recognition  of  growing  common 
interests.  They  had  formed  this  commune  hesitatingly, 
moving  cautiously  among  a  host  of  long-standing 
rivalries  and  new-born  jealousies,  but,  the  commune 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  195 

once  formed,  each  constituent  group  strove  to  acquire 
as  large  a  share  in  the  new  creation  as  possible.  The 
nobles,  a  social  group  determined  by  wealth  and  birth, 
appropriated  the  commune  first,  until  dispossessed  by 
the  gradual  encroachment  of  the  people.  But  the  peo- 
ple  themselves,  far  from  being  homogeneous  in  the  sense 
of  a  modern  citizen  body,  were  composed  of  diverse 
grou£sand  factions,  each  older  than  the  commune  and 
commanding  a  ready  and  profound  allegiance:  such 
groups  were,  with  respect~to~the  church,  the  parishes: 
witTf  respect  to  the  army ,~ the  military  companies;  and 
wjth_jresrjecrito^mdustry  ancl  commefce,  the  arti  or 
guilds.  These  last,  the  guilds,  were  of  all  the  various 
groups  among  the  people  the  most  powerful  and  most 
enterprising,  and  of  their  number  the  great  merchant 
guild,  together  with  the  one  industrial  union  of  any 
consequence,  the  wool  guild,  held  an  easy  preemi- 
nence. These  men,  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
the  mezza  gente  as  they  called  themselves,  deliber- 
ately seized  the  government  under  the  circumstances 
which  we  have  traced,  and  with  the  exclusive  spirit 
of  the  age,  converted  the  offices  into  a  private  monop- 
oly. Not  only  the  nobles  but  the  professional  classes 
of  lawyers  and  doctors,  as  well  as  such  petty  guilds- 
men  as  butchers,  bakers,  barbers,  and  carpenters, 
and,  of  course,  the  proletariat  of  the  day-laborers, 
were  declared  ineligible  to  rule  Siena.  The  men 
with  money  to  lend  and  notes  to  discount,  constituting 
the  capitalist  class,  calmly  affirmed  that  the  com- 
mune, the  eternal  object  of  contending  ambitions,  was 
theirs. 

Listen  to  what  the  victors  have  to  say  on  this  matter 


196  SIENA 

of  eligibility  in  the  new  constitution  *  which  they  im- 
posed on  the  state.  Under  the  heading,  Of  Them  Who 
May  Be  Of  The  Nine,  we  read:  "Also,  that  the  Signori 
Nove  .  .  .  should  and  must  belong  to  the  merchants 
of  the  city  of  Siena,  that  is,  to  the  middle  class. "f  And 
to  define  this  middle  class  we  read  in  the  next  article: 
"Also,  it  is  decreed  and  ordered  that  no  nobleman  of 
the  city  of  Siena,  nor  any  knight,  nor  any  judge,  nor  any 
notary,  nor  any  physician  of  the  city  or  district  may  be 
of  the  number  of  the  Signori  Nove."J  And  still  another 
article  declared  that  all  Ghibellines  shall  be  excluded 
from  the  supreme  magistracy.  §  In  view  of  which 
statutory  provisions  a  profound  student  arrives  at  the 
following  summary  conclusion:  "The  leaders  of  the 
wool-guild,  a  few  rich  members  of  the  other  guilds: 
such  in  all  probability  were  the  collaborators  of  the 
powerful  merchants,  who  suffered  no  other  guild  to  be 
represented  in  the  government."^ 

In  their  uncontrolled  greed  of  power  the  merchants 
did  not  hesitate  to  discard  the  whole  theoretical  basis  of 
the  early  commune.  We  have  seen  that  the  sovereignty, 
which  originally  rested,  at  least  in  theory,  with  the  people 

*  The  Constitution  of  1309-10,  a  document  which  rivals  in  importance  the 
Constitution  of  1262,  has  been  published  by  the  Archivio  di  Stato  in  Siena 
("  II  Costituto  del  Comune  di  Siena."  Volgarizzato  nel  MCCCIX-MCCCX, 
Siena,  1903).  Just  as  the  Constitution  of  1262  unfolds  the  picture  of  the 
state  under  the  Twenty-four,  that  of  1309-10  conveys  a  full  knowledge  of  the 
political,  social,  and  judicial  conditions  under  the  Nine.  A  part  of  this  con- 
stitution, accompanied  with  sound  observations,  has  also  been  published  by 
Luchaire  under  the  name,  "Le  statut  des  neuf  gouverneurs  et  defenseurs 
de  la  commune  de  Sienne;  Extrait  des  Melanges  d'Archeologie  et  d'His- 
toire  publics  par  PEcole  fran9aise  de  Rome,"  T.  xxi.  Consult  also  the  same 
author's  "Documenti  per  la  Storia  dei  Rivolgimenti  Politici  del  Comune  di 
Siena  dal  1354  al  1369." 

f'Distinctio,"  VI,  5.  J  "Dist.,"  VI,  6.  §  "Dist.,"  VI,  7. 

U  Luchaire,  "Documenti,"  etc.,  p.  XXI. 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  197 

assembled  in  parliament,  was  with  the  advance  of  the 
consular  regime  centred  in  the  General  Council,  called 
the  Council  of  the  Bell.  The  Council  of  the  Bell  not 
only  made  the  laws,  but  elected  the  officials  of  the  state, 
and  subjected  them  to  its  control.  Such  powers  in  a 
numerous  body  and,  because  of  its  numbers,  difficult  to 
control,  were  far  from  suiting  the  merchants:  they 
vested  the  sovereignty  in  the  Nine,  another  way,  of 
course,  of  vesting  it  in  themselves.  To  preserve  equal- 
ity among  their  number  and  keep  the  authority  in  circu- 
lation they  limited  the  term  of  service  of  the  Nine  to  two 
months.  Examine  carefully  these  prerogatives  which 
appear  from  a  perusal  of  the  constitution:  the  Nine 
named  their  own  successors;  they  appointed  all  the 
leading  officials  of  the  state;  their  resolutions  were  law; 
the  potesta  and  captain  were  obliged  to  carry  out  their 
orders;  they  elected  the  members  of  the  General 
Council,  suffering  naturally  only  partisans;  and,  finally, 
they  appointed  the  officers  (sworn  Guelphs  and  clients!) 
of  the  military  companies.  Was  it  possible  to  carry  the 
principle  of  political  exclusiveness  further  ?  And  do  not 
the  enumerated  privileges  create  a  magistracy  of  prac- 
tically absolute  power  ?  The  only  possible  conclusion, 
in  the  face  of  such  functions  as  the  above,  is  that 
the  Nine  constituted  what  we  may  call  a  distributed 
tyranny.  In  spite  of  the  delusive  drapery  of  certain 
persisting  popular  forms,  as,  for  example,  the  Council 
of  the  Bell,  we  recognize  in  this  constitution  that  prin- 
ciple of  government  which,  in  the  more  concise  and 
evolved  form  of  the  power  of  a  single  man,  under- 
mined the  democracy  of  all  the  free  communes  of 
Italy  and  established  its  throne  on  their  ruin: — a 


198  SIENA 

deeply  regrettable  development,  as  Sismondi  and 
other  generous  hearts  have  declared  in  moving 
tones;  but,  what  is  more  to  the  point,  in  an  objective 
analysis  of  Italian  society,  an  inevitable  development 
under  the  group  system  of  the  Middle  Age.  As  long  as 
an  association  or  a  league  of  associations  aimed  at  a 
monopoly  of  the  state  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others, 
there  was  bound  to  be  war  to  the  knife,  and  of  this 
social  war  with  its  tyranny  of  fluctuating  groups  the  only 
possible  solution  was  the  military  tyranny  of  One. 

The  merchants  reaped j^s  t hey  had  sown.  They  were 
strongly  intrenched  in  power,  they  were  watchful  as 
Argus,  but  they  could  not  escape  the  common  lot  of 
oligarchs.  Conspiracy  followed  conspiracy,  chiefly 
among  the  nobles  and  the  more  enterprising  of  the  ex- 
cluded guilds.  However,  though  repression  became  one 
of  the  constant  preoccupations  of  the  merchants,  they 
did  not  fail  to  engage  in  constructive  activities  also. 
They  constituted,  when  all  is  said,  the  wealthiest  and 
most  progressive  element  in  the  city,  and  tirelessly 
busied  themselves,  and  with  notable  success,  in  prob- 
lems of  public  improvement.  To  these  and  other 
factors,  which  piece  together  the  historical  picture  of 
the  period  of  the  Nine,  I  shall  now  give  attention,  draw- 
ing as  far  as  possible,  for  purposes  of  illustration,  upon 
the  pages  of  the  Sienese  chronicles  and,  especially,  upon 
that  fascinating  narrative,  ascribed  to  Andrea  Dei  and 
Agnolo  di  Tura.* 

First  of  all,  I  shall  take  up  the  relations  entertained 
by  the  Nine  with  the  empire,  and,  more  particularly, 
with  their  neighbors  of  Tuscany  and  with  Florence. 

*  Muratori,  "Scriptores,"  XV.     "Cronica  Sanese." 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  199 

Almost  everything  in  this  connection  is  said  when  I 
repeat  ^hf^the^  Nine  were  Guelphs,  and  that  the 
Guelph  faith  was  a  fundamental  feature  of  their  policy. 
Therefore,  under  their_rule  jiena  was  ofrlcialiy  a  link 
which,  with  other  linksjike  Florence,  Lucca,  Colle  anJ 
the  rest,  made  a  chain  binding  Tuscany  to  the  church. 
This  polite  view  of  the  character  of  the  Guelph  League 
as  an  organization  founded  to  support  religion  and  the 
pope,  while  saving  the  susceptibilities  of  the  members, 
did  not  alter  the  fact  that  the  alliance  was  really  a  crea- 
tion of  Florence,  and  as  such  served  specific  Florentine 
ends.  About  the  same  time  that  the  Nine  assumed  the 
power  of  Siena,  the  mezza  gente  or  great  merchants  had 
taken  possession  of  the  offices  in  Florence,  thus  proving 
a  certain  general  resemblance  in  the  social  conditions 
of  the  two  towns.  But  this  partial  identity  did  not  keep 
differences  from  announcing  themselves  which  sprang 
largely  from  opportunity  and  national  temper.  As  if  it 
were  not  enough  that  the  conditions  of  mediaeval  trade 
gave  the  Arno  valley  a  natural  and  assured  preeminence 
in  central  Italy,  the  Sienese  grew  timid  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  Florentines  unfolded  a  splendid 
audacity.  Above  all,  the  sons  of  the  Red  Lily  followed 
tenaciously  the  immemorial  policy  of  commercial  cap- 
tains: their  sleeping  and  their  waking  thoughts  were 
concerned  with  the  conquest  of  new  markets.  Pos- 
sessed of  this  spirit  it  is  small  wonder  that  they  manipu- 
lated the  Guelph  League  for  their  own  purposes, 
practically  dictating  the  Sienese  foreign  policy  and  dis^ 
posing  of  the  Sienese  military  forces  as  if  they  were  their 
owrL  It  this  was  a  tnHe  humiliating,  the  Nine  might 
consider  that  they  received  compensation  in  the  form 


200  SIENA 

of  political  security,  for,  while  Siena  was  united  with 
Florence,  the  merchants  of  the  Arno  city  would  not  only 
cease  annoying  Siena  in  her  contado,  but  would  lend  a 
helping  hand  to  keep  such  invaluable  allies  as  the  Nine 
in  the  seat  of  power  against  the  attack  of  nobles  and 
every  other  kind  of  domestic  conspirator. 

The  rule  of  the  Nine  gives  at  every  point  the  impression 
of  a  government  satisfied  with  a  strictly  circumscribed 
and  local  independence,  purchased  at  the  price  of  the 
surrender  of  its  foreign  policy  into  the  hands  of  a 
powerful  protector.  Let  us  follow,  to  bring  this  atti- 
tude home,  the  conduct  of  the  Nine  when,  after  more 
than  fifty  years,  an  emperor  once  more  appeared  in  Italy. 
In  1310  Henry  VII  descended  the  Alps,  hailed  as  a 
Messiah  by  the  poor  remnant  of  the  Ghibellines,  dis- 
persed, like  the  race  of  the  Jews,  by  defeat  and  misfor- 
tune. His  John  the  Baptist,  who  went  before  him,  was, 
as  everybody  knows,  the  great  Dante  Alighieri.  Here 
was  an  opportunity,  a  perilous  one,  of  course,  but  such  as 
individuals  and  nations  of  mettle  have  run  to  meet. 
The  Twenty-four  who  ruled  Siena  back  in  the  days  of 
Monaperti  took  a  much  graver  risk  when  they  made 
alliance  with  King  Manfred.  The  Nine  by  seizing 
Henry's  proffered  hand  would  have  immediately  become 
the  pivot  of  Tuscany,  and  Siena  the  head  of  a  league, 
the  main  object  of  which  must  inevitably  have  been  the 
overthrow  of  Florence.  Instead,  the  rulers  chose  the 
safe  course.  When  Henry,  in  the  year  1312,  laid  siege 
to  Florence,  they  dispatched  military  aid  to  their  Guelph 
friend,  and,  if  we  are  to  believe  the  chronicler,  saved 
Florence  from  the  emperor's  clutches.*  The  next  year 

*  Muratori,  XV,  48,  A. 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  201 

(1313)  Henry  passed  by  Siena  on  the  way  south,  but  the 
Sienese  locked  their  gates  and  manned  their  walls. 
Matters  standing  thus,  death  took  a  hand  in  the  game. 
At  Buonconvento,  sixteen  miles  from  Siena,  the  em- 
peror, after  a  short  illness,  departed  this  life  to  enter,  as 
all  good  Ghibellines  believed,  straightway  and  without 
the  need  of  purgatorial  penance,  into  the  joys  of 
paradise.  The  simple-minded  chronicler,  exhibiting  as 
usual  no  sign  of  emotion,  gives  a  succinct  account  of  the 
emperor's  coming.  If  the  government  was  Guelph, 
none  the  less,  in  this  old  Ghibelline  stronghold,  throb- 
bing with  Ghibelline  memories,  there  must  have  been 
a  great  deal  of  imperial  sentiment  abroad.  Why  else 
did  the  Nine,  just  as  Henry  was  expected,  "begin  to 
get  the  chains  ready,"  as  the  chronicler  dryly  notes  ? 
This  military  device,  aimed  at  the  domestic  enemy, 
consisted  of  iron  chains,  which  could  on  short  notice  be 
swung  across  the  main  thoroughfares,  thus  hindering 
the  concentration  of  forces  and,  above  all,  the  charge 
of  horsemen.  The  rivets  to  which  the  chains  were  at- 
tached can  still  be  seen  at  many  places  through  the  city.* 
As  Henry  swept  by,  the  agitated  inhabitants  crowded 
towers,  walls,  and  points  of  vantage,  and  surely  in  that 
throng  many  hearts  shaped  silent  prayers  for  his  success. 

"He  left  Pisa  on  the  eighth  of  August  with  a  large  and  excellent 
cavalry  .  .  .  and  on  the  fourteenth  approached  Siena  on  the 
side  of  Porta  Santo  Viene.  And  his  people  burnt  many  houses 
and  did  much  damage.  .  .  .  On  the  twenty-second  of  August, 
being  Wednesday,  the  emperor  fell  ill.  He  left  Stigliano  while  he 
was  still  ill  and  moved  to  Buonconvento;  and  on  Friday,  August 

*  For  some  interesting  notices  about  these  chains,  see  "Miscellanea  Stor, 
San.,"  IV,  p.  io& 


202  SIENA 

twenty-fourth,  on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  in  the  church  of  Buon- 
convento,  the  emperor  died;  and  on  Saturday  his  army  broke 
camp  and  returned  to  Pisa  with  the  body  of  the  emperor,  and 
there  he  was  buried  with  great  honor."  * 

Following  Henry's  failure  and  tragic  end  the  empire 
counted  for  less  than  ever  in  the  affairs  of  Tuscany,  but 
the  troubles  of  the  harassed  province  did  not  on  that 
account  cease.  New  conflicts  constantly  made  their 
appearance,  caused  largely  by  the  Florentine  ambition 
to  rule  and  the  inevitable  resistances  which  that  ambi- 
tion aroused.  Daring  leaders,  Uguccione  della  Faggi- 
uola,  lord  of  Pisa,  Castruccio  Castracane,  tyrant  of 
Lucca,  administered  stinging  defeats  to  the  purse- 
proud  burghers  of  the  city  of  the  Lily,  but  no  amount 
of  encouragement  could  induce  the  government  of  the 
Nine  to  abandon  their  political  reserve  or  to  be  drawn 
from  their  allegiance  to  their  city's  dearest  foe.  In 
every  expedition  which  Florence  organized,  naturally 
after  loud  beating  of  the  Guelph  drums,  a  Sienese  troop 
took  part  and  was  duly  butchered  pour  les  beaux  yeux 
of  her  Arno  neighbor.  Of  course  some  small  returns 
the  Nine  could  reasonably  ask  for  such  exemplary  devo- 
tion, and  some,  too,  they  received  not  only  in  the  form 
of  the  support  of  the  Guelph  League  against  internal 
foes,  but  also  in  the  privilege,  certainly  not  inconsider- 
able, of  consolidating  and  even  extending  their  power 
in  the  Sienese  contado. 

The  rule  of  the  Nine  in  the  contado  has  many  points 
of  interest.  However,  as  I  shall  unfold  the  fortunes  of 
the  contado  in  the  following  chapter,  it  must  suffice  me 
here  to  point  out  some  of  the  more  obvious  difficulties 

*  Muratori,  XV,  48. 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  203 

which  the  government  encountered  in  the  country-side. 
Although  Florence,  allied  with  the  Nine,  no  longer 
intrigued  with  the  subject  towns  to  persuade  them  to 
rise  in  rebellion,  the  situation  around  Siena  was  any- 
thing but  tranquil.  The  spirit  of  independence  died 
hard,  and  Grosseto,  Montepulciano,  and  Montemassi — 
to  name  only  some  of  the  more  important  points — re- 
volted many  times  and  had  as  often  to  be  put  down. 
Besides,  with  Tuscany  in  disturbance  from  such  wars  as 
those  associated  with  the  names  of  Uguccione  and 
Castruccio,  Siena  could  not  hope  to  be  entirely  spared 
from  provincial  broils,  and  was  frequently  alarmed  and 
harried  by  incursions  into  her  territory.  Then  there 
were  the  city-nobles,  sworn  enemies  of  the  merchants 
who  had  reduced  them  to  political  nullity;  on  slight 
provocation,  and,  often  on  no  provocation  at  all,  they 
raised  the  flag  of  insurrection  on  one  or  another  of  their 
moated  castles,  and  before  they  could  be  brought  to  terms 
many  troops  had  been  mobilized  and  much  money 
spent.  On  the  other  hand,  the  original  feudal  nobility 
made,  with  one  exception,  little  trouble,  for  the  progress 
of  time  had  practically  wiped  this  class  out  of  existence. 
In  the  southern  districts,  in  the  region  of  Monte  Amiata, 
the  Aldobrandeschi  still  held  their  own,  but  in  a  number 
of  wars  waged  against  them  by  the  Nine,  they  were 
signally  defeated  and  obliged  to  renew  all  the  old  treaties 
of  dependence  while  offering,  in  addition,  the  outright 
cession  of  numerous  lands  and  castles.*  Plainly  the 
proud  house  was  in  unarrested  decay.  It  would  seem 

*  Not  counting  the  minor  conflicts,  in  the  nature  of  border  raids,  there  were 
two  real  wars  waged  between  Siena  and  the  Aldobrandeschi  in  the  time  of 
the  Nine,  the  first  in  1299-1300,  the  second  in  1331.  See  Muratori,  XV, 
ad  annum. 


204  SIENA 

that  this  truth  was  not  hidden  from  some  of  the  members 
of  the  family  itself,  for  of  Count  Jacomo  of  Santa  Fiora, 
who  died  in  1346,  we  hear  that  he  left  the  commune  of 
Siena  heir  of  all  his  goods.  Is  not  such  a  testament  the 
sign  of  a  complete  discouragement  ?  And  is  not  this 
view  confirmed  by  what  the  chronicler  adds  in  explana- 
tion of  Jacomo's  unusual  act  ?  "And  this  he  did,"  we 
read,  "because  he  said  that  what  he  had,  or  the  greater 
part  thereof,  he  had  seized  and  stolen  in  the  contado  of 
Siena."  *  A  baron  of  ancient  lineage  regretting  a  little 
violence  and  eager  to  restore  ill-gotten  goods  !  Beyond 
the  peradventure  of  a  doubt,  the  feudal  character  was 
passing  with  the  feudal  system. 

Overshadowing  every  other  question  and  interest 
attaching  to  the  rule  of  the  Nine,  is  the  story  of  their 
relations  to  their  political  enemies  within  the  city. 
When  we  recall  that  the  merchants  established  an 


ruled  at  the  expense  of  the  nobiity 
and  _the  common  people,  we  can  form  an  immediate 
conception^  of  their  difficulties.  The  elements  with  a 
grievance  would  tend  to  coalesce,  and  in  those  violent 
days  would  balk  at  nothing  in  order  to  discrown  their 
tyrants.  It  was  well  for  the  Nine  that  they  kept  their 
hand  on  the  local  militia  by  reserving  to  themselves  the 
appointment  of  the  officers.  Their  continued  uneasi- 
ness, in  spite  of  this  prudent  measure,  is  proved  by  their 
employment  of  a  special  palace  guard  which,  from  1320 
on,  was  under  a  foreign  commander,  the  capitano  di 
provided  with  extraordinary  powers  for  the 


*Muratori,  XV,  114,  C. 

f  On  this  official,  who  betrays  the  system  of  force  built  up  by  the  Nine,  see 
Luchaire,  "Documenti,"  p.  L. 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  205 

detection  and  punishment  of  political  crimes.  A 
special  palace  guard!  This  touch  was  needed  to  es- 
tablish an  unmistakable  analogy  between  this  re- 
publican magistracy  and  such  avowed  tyrants  as  the 
Visconti  and  the  Scala,  who  at  this  very  time  had 
succeeded  in  enthroning  themselves,  with  the  aid  of 
hireling  soldiers,  on  the  buried  liberties  of  Milan  and 
Verona. 

In  addition  to  minor  tumults,  more  or  less  dangerous 
to  the  government,  the  chronicles  report  three  serious 
conspiracies  aimed  against  the  Nine,  each  one  of  which 
composes  an  admirably  clear  picture  of  the  local  situa- 
tion. We  have  seen  that  things  could  not  have  been 
entirely  satisfactory  in  the  year  1313,  when  the  nearness 
of  Henry  VII  moved  the  Nine  to  serve  warning  to  pro- 
spective rioters  by  closing  the  streets  with  chains.  The 
open  outbreak  of  1318  could  not  have  been,  there- 
fore, wholly  unexpected.  The  chronicle  of  Andrea  Dei 
gives  the  following  account  of  it : 

"At  this  time  some  of  the  Tolomei  and  other  grandi  of  Siena 
.  .  .  made  a  league  and  conspiracy  with  the  notaries  and  butchers 
and  other  guildsmen  to  break  and  overthrow  the  office  of  the  Sig- 
nori  Nove  and  to  seize  the  signiory  themselves. 

"And  on  the  night  of  Thursday,  October  25th,  being  the  eve  of 
Saints  Simon  and  Jude,  they  gathered  on  the  Campo  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Casato"  (the  aristocratic  street,  where  many  nobles  dwelt), 
"accompanied  by  a  small  number  of  foot-soldiers,  and  raised  the 
cry:  Death  to  the  Nine.  And  among  them  were  certain  notaries 
and  butchers  and  other  common  people  (popolari  minuti)  of 
Siena,  and  they  engaged  in  battle  with  the  forces  of  the  Nine, 
drawn  up  before  their  palace  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  foot- 
soldiers.  .  .  .  And  the  notaries  and  butchers  and  other  conspira- 
tors expected  that  the  Tolomei  and  the  other  nobles,  who  were 


206  SIENA 

parties  to  the  said  conspiracy,  would  come  to  the  Campo  with  their 
retainers,  but  they  came  not.  ...  On  account  of  which  those 
who  had  engaged  in  this  enterprise  were  broken  by  the  guard  of 
the  commune  and  driven  from  the  Campo."  * 

The  failure  was  followed  by  numerous  confiscations, 
executions,  and  that  most  puerile  measure  of  political 
revenge,  unhappily  practised  by  all  of  the  Italian  cities, 
the  destruction  of  the  houses  of  the  defeated  opponents. 
All  which  severity  did  not  put  an  end  to  resistance.  In 
1324  there  was  an  attempt  which,  in  its  leading  features, 
presents  a  close  parallel  to  the  conspiracy  just  described. 
The  Nine  were  too  strong  and  too  watchful;  they  killed 
the  movement  in  the  bud,  with  the  result  that  they  did 
not  have  to  face  another  grave  local  peril  till  the  year 
1346.  Of  this  outbreak  we  read  as  follows  in  the 
chronicle:  f 

"On  Sunday,  August  i3th,  a  rumor  went  through  Siena  of  a 
league  made  by  certain  common  people  (popolari  minuti)  who 
elected  as  their  captain  Spinelloccio,  son  of  Misser  Jacomo  di 
Misser  Meo  Tavena  de'  Tolomei"  (always  a  Tolomei  in  these 
enterprises !).... 

"And  certain  of  the  said  conspirators  raised  a  clamor  and  pro- 
ceded  to  the  house  of  Berto  di  Lotto,  who  was  giving  a  feast  for 
some  strangers  and  citizens,  among  the  latter,  Giovanni  di  Ghezzo 
Foscherani.  And  while  Giovanni  was  washing  his  hands,  some 
of  the  conspirators,  among  whom  was  a  certain  Simone  of  Volterra, 
attacked  him  with  knives,  and  Simone  struck  Giovanni  several 
blows  and  ran  away,  raising  the  cry  through  the  quarter  of  Ovile  " 
(the  poorest  quarter  of  the  town  and  the  most  crowded) :  '"Long 
live  the  people  and  death  to  those  who  are  starving  us  (e  muoia 
chi  ci  a/ama)';  for  in  that  year  there  was  a  great  famine  of 
grain. 

*Muratori,  XV,  60,  D.  f  Muratori,  XV,  115. 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  207 

"At  this  juncture  a  son  of  the  above  Giovanni,  whose  name  was 
Meo,  seeing  his  father  wounded,  hurried  home,  and,  seizing  his 
sword,  ran  like  a  madman  after  Simone  with  intent  to  avenge  the 
outrage.  On  him,  too,  Simone  threw  himself  with  his  knife  and 
wounded  him  in  several  places;  and  finally  he  killed  Meo,  son  of 
Giovanni  de'  Foscherani.  Whereupon  the  said  Simone  escaped 
without  let  or  hindrance  .  .  .  and  fleeing  and  shouting  ever: 
'Long  live  the  people  and  the  guilds,  and  death  to  them  who  are 
starving  us,'  without  the  least  interference,  passed  through  the  gate 
and  vanished  into  safety. 

"For  which  reason  the  city  was  filled  with  suspicion.  And  the 
Nine  sent  into  many  directions  for  aid,  and  from  Florence,  Pistoia, 
San  Gimignano,  Colle,  Montepulciano,  Montalcino,  and  our 
contado  a  great  quantity  of  horse  and  foot  poured  into  Siena  and 
guarded  the  city  many  days.  ..." 

Observe  how  the  brothers  of  the  Guelph  League 
stood  shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  how  Florence  was  pre- 
pared to  be  at  some  trouble  to  keep  so  useful  an  ally 
as  the  Nine  in  power.  Simone  murdering  oligarchs  in 
the  streets,  with  everybody  apparently  standing  by  with 
folded  arms,  was  a  phenomenon  calculated  to.  arouse 
reflection.  The  fact  was,  the  position  of  the  Nine,  after 
two  generations  of  ascendency,  was  no  longer  what 
it  had  been.  But  of  this  anon.  Before  considering 
their  inevitable  downfall  I  wish  to  refer  to  a  few 
events,  which  pieced  together  with  such  scenes  as 
the  above,  perform  the  service  of  making  the  life 
in  the  winding  streets  among  the  palaces  and  ware- 
houses, as  actual  as  if  we  beheld  it  with  our  living 
eyes. 

The  laconic  chronicler  upon  whom  I  am  drawing 
never  indulges  in  lavish  description.  Facts  are  what 
he  is  after  with  his  simple  grasp  of  life,  facts  that  are  as 


208  SIENA 

tangible  and  solid  as  a  floor  beam  or  a  paving  block. 
He  takes  note  of  a  tower  blown  down  by  the  wind, 
crushing  a  hundred  persons,  of  an  earthquake,  a  drouth, 
a  fire,  letting  no  crude,  nerve-shaking  disaster  escape 
his  attention,  but  his  mind  is  not  yet  alive  to  the  subtle 
occurrences  in  the  realm  of  the  spirit,  and  the  particular 
traits  of  even  those  broad  events  which  he  describes  are 
a  blank  to  him.  However,  the  Renaissance  was  in  the 
wind  and  the  Renaissance,  among  other  things,  meant 
awakened  senses,  quickened  mental  processes,  and  a 
more  personal  relation  to  society.  Here  and  there  in  the 
dispassionate  record  we  have  quite  modern  touches  in 
the  shape  of  descriptive  detail,  for  instance,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  family  feuds  among  the  nobles,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  story  of  the  grande  mortalita  of  1348,  the 
Black  Death  of  European  fame. 

In  the  daily  budget  of  news  exchanged  by  the  gossips 
congregated  in  church  or  on  the  Campo,  the  latest  inci- 
dent in  one  of  the  many  family  feuds  must  have  held  a 
prominent  place.  The  reader's  attention  need  only  be 
directed  to  Shakespeare's  Montagues  and  Capulets  in 
order  to  lead  him  to  recall  that  every  Italian  city  was 
stirred  with  these  savage  vendettas,  survivals  of  the 
feudal  preference  for  the  decision  of  the  sword  over  the 
sentence  of  the  law.  In  Siena  the  two  most  powerful 
families  were  the  Tolomei  and  the  Salimbeni.  They 
pursued  one  another  in  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament 
demand  of  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  an  eye  for  an  eye.  Over 
and  over  again  their  murders  and  riots  filled  the  whole 
city  with  alarm.  To  stir  further  the  troubled  waters  of 
civic  life,  similar  feuds  sprang  up  between  the  families 
of  the  Malavolti  and  the  Piccolomini,  the  Scotti  and  the 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  209 

Saraceni.  An  event  like  the  following  is  possible  only 
within  the  frame  of  the  Italian  Middle  Age: 

"On  April  i6th  (1315)  a  great  conflict  and  battle  occurred  be- 
tween the  Tolomei  and  the  Salimbeni,  and  the  whole  city  armed 
itself.  And  the  next  day  the  rumor  spread  that  the  Aretines,  at  the 
bidding  of  the  Tolomei,  were  coming  in  their  aid,  and  the  whole 
city  armed  itself  and  rushed  to  the  gates  and  the  Campo,  but 
found  nothing."  * 

Not  only  do  the  citizens  of  high  birth  pursue  their 
ancient  and  honorable  pastimes  on  the  public  streets, 
but  they  are  suspected,  and  probably  not  without  some 
ground,  of  treason !  The  Florentines,  always  solicitous 
for  the  good  of  Siena  under  the  pliable  Nine,  interfered 
on  this  and  other  occasions  to  compose  the  feud  between 
the  Tolomei  and  the  Salimbeni;  neighboring  bishops 
and  even  the  pope  may  be  found  at  one  time  or  another 
engaged  in  the  same  service;  but  the  peace  was  hardly 
sworn  when  some  new  excess  put  everything  in  jeopardy 
again.  The  combat  described  above  still  retains  some- 

o 

thing  of  the  air  of  a  knightly  tournament,  but  some  of 
the  incidents  associated  with  these  vendettas  are,  viewed 
in  the  light  of  our  modern  standards,  nothing  but  naked 
assassinations.  Consider  this  act  in  the  Malavolti- 
Piccolomini  blood-feud : 

"On  February  ipth  (1334),  just  after  sunset,  four  youths  of 
the  Piccolomini,  to  wit,  Giovachino  d' Andrea  di  Misser  Salamone, 
Amerigo  di  Turino,  Neroccio  di  Misser  Naddo,  and  Riccio  di 
Benuccio"  (what  a  sonorous  roll-call  of  brigands!  almost  capable 
of  reconciling  one  to  being  murdered)  "with  some  retainers  left 
their  house,  and  coming  to  the  house  of  the  Malavolti  entered  the 
court-yard.  There  they  came  upon  Niccolo  di  Misser  Cione 

*  Muratori,  XV,  54,  C. 


210  SIENA 

Malavolti  playing  chess;  and  Giovachino  drove  a  knife  into  his 
throat  killing  him  instantly.  And  then  they  returned  to  their 
house  without  further  incident."  * 

Another  characteristic  feature  of  life  in  Siena  and 
other  mediaeval  towns  were  the  recurrent  famines,  usu- 
ally accompanied  with  disease  and  pestilence.  The 
failure  from  one  cause  or  another  of  the  crops  of  a  par- 
ticular district  always  produced  a  crisis  in  the  Middle 
Age,  owing  to  the  poor  facilities  for  moving  grain  beyond 
a  certain  distance,  as  well  as  to  the  absurd  protective 
views  generally  current,  which  caused  every  state  to  put 
the  exportation  of  food-stuffs  under  a  severe  embargo. 
The  result  may  be  seen  in  such  a  record  as  this  for  Siena : 
1302  famine;  1328  famine  followed  by  a  terrible  mor- 
tality; 1339  famine  and  disease;  1346  partial  famine. 
Though  the  above  record  establishes  an  indubitable 
concatenation  between  the  phenomena  of  hunger  and 
disease,  the  Black  Death  of  1347-48,  that  scourge 
unparalleled  in  the  history  of  Europe,  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  Sienese  famine  of  the  preceding  year.  The 
Black  Death — related,  it  would  seem,  to  the  Bubonic 
Plague,  which  still  decimates  the  populations  of  the 
crowded  East — was  carried  into  Europe  by  Italian 
merchants.  From  such  seaports  as  Genoa  and  Pisa 
it  spread  inland  with  incredible  rapidity,  leaped  the 
Alps,  and  presently  devastated  the  whole  West.  ...  In 
the  spring  of  1348  it  appeared  at  Siena: 

"In  this  time  began  the  Great  Mortality,  the  greatest,  and 
most  obscure,  and  most  horrible  imaginable;  and  it  lasted  till 
October,  1348.  It  was  of  such  a  secret  character  that  men  and 

*Muratori,  XV,  QI,  D. 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  211 

women  died  almost  without  warning.  A  swelling  appeared  in  the 
groin  or  the  arm-pit,  and  while  they  were  talking  they  fell  dead. 
The  father  would  not  attend  to  his  son;  one  brother  fled  from  the 
other;  the  wife  abandoned  her  husband;  for  it  was  said  that  to 
catch  the  disease  it  sufficed  to  look  upon  a  victim  or  to  feel  his 
breath.  And  it  must  have  been  so  indeed,  since  so  many  perished 
in  the  months  of  May,  June,  July,  and  August,  that  it  was  impossi- 
ble to  find  any  one  to  bury  the  dead.  Neither  relatives  nor  friends 
nor  priests  nor  friars  accompanied  them  to  the  grave,  nor  was  the 
office  of  the  dead  recited.  He  who  lost  a  relative  or  house-mate, 
as  soon  as  the  breath  had  left  the  body,  took  him  by  night  or  day, 
and  with  two  or  three  to  lend  a  hand,  carried  him  to  the  church,  and 
with  his  helpers  buried  the  corpse  as  best  he  could,  covering  it 
with  just  enough  earth  to  save  it  from  the  dogs.  And  in  many 
places  of  the  city  trenches  were  dug,  very  broad  and  deep,  and  into 
them  the  bodies  were  thrown  and  covered  with  a  little  earth;  and 
thus  layer  after  layer  until  the  trench  was  full;  and  then  another 
trench  was  commenced.  And  I,  Agniolo  di  Tura,  called  Grasso, 
with  my  own  hands  buried  five  of  my  children  in  a  single  trench; 
and  many  others  did  the  like.  And  many  dead  there  were  so  ill- 
covered  that  the  dogs  dug  them  up  and  ate  them,  dispersing  their 
limbs  through  the  city.  And  no  bells  rang,  and  nobody  wept  no 
matter  what  his  loss,  because  almost  every  one  expected  death. 
.  .  .  And  people  believed  and  said:  This  is  the  end  of  the  world."* 

But  the  Black  Angel  thus  reaping  up  and  down  the 
city  spared  the  good  Agniolo,  called  Grasso,  and  before 
he  died  of  some  other  disease,  less  terrible  but  just  as 
effective,  he  wrote  the  above  description,  which  by  reason 
of  a  certain  rusticity  and  homeliness  has  a  far  greater 
poignancy  than  the  more  literary  treatment  of  the  same 
theme  by  the  famous  novellist  Boccaccio.f 

*  Muratori,  XV,  123.  Agniolo  puts  the  dead  at  Siena  at  80,000;  Boc- 
caccio in  his  Introduction  to  the  Decameron  gives  the  figures  for  Florence  at 
100,000  "dentro  alle  mura." 

t  Introduction  to  "  II  Decamerone." 


212  SIENA 

With  this  quotation  I  shall  have  to  close  my  illustra- 
tions of  the  life  in  Siena  under  the  Nine,  as  depicted  in 
the  pages  of  the  chroniclers.  Fairness,  however,  de- 
mands that  before  relating  the  fall  of  this  government  I 
again  insist  that  against  its  many  faults  and  deficiencies 
are  set  some  notable  achievements.  If  it  is  not  easy  to 
sympathize  with  the  foreign  programme  of  the  mer- 
chants, which  imposed  a  close  dependence  on  Florence, 
if  their  home  policy  was  dictated  by  the  selfishness  of 
class  interest,  they  were,  nevertheless,  in  their  way, 
patriotic  and  enlightened  citizens,  and  beautified  their 
town  with  that  keen  pleasure  with  which  a  lover  adorns 
his  mistress.  Since  peace  was  their  lode-star,  a  com- 
mercial peace  which  would  enable  every  man  to  go 
about  his  daily  business,  it  was  at  least  consistent  that  the 
merchants  should  give  their  attention  to  civic  improve- 
ments by  constructing  aqueducts  and  fountains,  by  paving 
the  streets,  by  erecting  public  buildings,and  generally  by 
patronizing  the  arts.  The  noble  outward  show,  as 
noble  as  may  be  found  anywhere  up  and  down  the  fair 
peninsula,  which  Siena  in  this  twentieth  century  still 
presents  to  the  eye,  is  due  primarily  to  the  creative 
activity  of  the  Nine.  The  Campo,  where  they  built  their, 
palace,  was  the  particular  object  of  their  munificence, 
and  whoever  has  seen  this  unique  piazza  will  agree  that 
the  chronicler  was  not  misled  by  local  pride  when,  in 
1346,  in  a  burst  of  feeling  extraordinary  for  him,  he 
wrote.  "On  December  3<Dth  the  paving  of  the  Campo 
was  completed.  And  with  the  beauty  of  the  fountains 
and  of  the  buildings  round  about,  it  is  held  to  be  one  of 
the  fairest  squares  in  Italy,  and  even  in  Christendom."* 

*  Muratori,  XV,  117,  D. 


Porta  Romana 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  213 

The  rule  of  the  merchants  for  good  and  for  ill  was 
drawing  to  a_close.  In  the  year  1354  an  emperor  once^ 
again  descended_into  Italy  Charles  IV  was  an  un- 
imaginative, matter-of-fact  politician,  who  accepted  the 
verdict  of  history,  recognized  that  Ghibellinism  was  a 
dead  issue  and  Italy  a  lost  province,  and  was  content, 
like  a  good  peddler,  to  get  the  best  prices  he  could  for 
his  damaged  imperial  wares.  These  consisted  of 
privileges  and  confirmations,  to  which  there  still  attached 
a  certain  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  local  governments,  for 
the  emperor  was,  in  spite  of  all  that  had  happened,  the 
theoretical  source  of  all  political  power;  and  in  any 
case  the  imperial  diploma  with  its  pendent  seal  of  gold 
would  be  a  handsome  archivial  decoration.  Naturally 
at  the  prospect  of  so  attractive  a  possession  the  com- 
munes presented  themselves  before  Charles  in  great 
number.  In  view  of  his  conciliatory  bearing  the  Nine, 
though  Guelph,  opined  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear 
from  him,  and  after  some  hesitation,  dispatched  an 
embassy  to  him  at  Pisa  to  offer  their  homage.  To 
return  the  courtesy,  on  his  way  to  Rome,  whither  he 
went  to  be  crowned,  he  came  to  Siena,  entering  the  city 
amidst  loud  acclaim  on~the  evening  of  March  23,  1355. 
Considering  the  strictly  commercial  interpretation  which 
he  put  upon  his  Italian  mission,  it  is  not  likely  thaFKe 
entertained  any  plan  of  overthrowing  the  Sienese  govern- 
ment.  From  this  charge  he  may  be  exonerated;  never- 
theless, he  could  not  hinder  hispresence  in  Siena  being 
utilized  by  the  opposition  for  its  own  ends.  Again  and 
again  thelToBTeslTnd  the  common  people  hid  conspired 
to  overthrow  tfieiF  tyrants,  and  now  no  sooner  had 
Chanes~ehtere3^the  gate  than  a  new  conspiracy  sprang 


214  SIENA 

into  existence.  _  The  nobles  circulated  among  the 
crowd,  whispering  sedition,  and  with  the  first  vivas  for 
the  emperor  mingIed^alsQ-JJi£LjQinijQOus  cry:  Muoiali 
NoveJ  We  may  fairly  believe  that  Charles  was  helpless 
in  the  midst  of  the  following  explosion,  the  causes  of 
which,  as  a  foreigner,  he  could  not  possibly  have  fath- 
omed. The  more  closely  we  examine  the  course  of 
events,  the  more  certain  it  becomes  that  on  this,  as  well 
as  on  later  occasions,  he  was  hardly  more  than  a  cloak 
for  the  ambitions  of  others,  constituting,  in  spite  of 
whatever  good-will  with  which  we  may  credit  him, 
merely  an  additional  element  of  confusion  in  an 
already  complicated  situation. 

The  frightened  Nine  offered  no  resistance  to  the  new 
conspiracy.     All  through  the  next  day  (March  24.th) 


poured  in  a  surging  m.assjnto^  the  Campo  and  prepared 
tQ^torrn_the.4]!jala£e.  The  emperor  was  within,  consult- 
ing with  the  agitated  governors.  In  order  to  end  the 
confusion  he  announced  to  the  populace  that  the  rule 
of  the  Nine  was  over  and  that  a  committee  would  con- 
sider the  bases  of  a  new  constitution.  The  victors 
relieved  their  patriotic  enthusiasm  in  the  usual  form  by 
the  pillage  of  the  houses  of  the  merchants  and  of  all 
those  public  buildings  which  the  forces  of  the  emperor 
did  not  protect.  Abused,  cuffed,  hunted  like  wild 
beasts,  the  deposed  oligarchs  fled  from  the  city. 

The  work  of  the  committee,  which  was  composed  of 
twelve  popolani  and  eight  nobles,  that  is,  of  representa- 
tives of  the  two  groups  which  had  triumphed  in  the 
revolution,  ended  with  the  establishment  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Dodici,  twelve  rulers  in  place  of  nine,  all 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  215 

of  the  victorious  people.  The  merchants  paid  the  price 
of  defeat  by  being  excluded  from  the  offices.  The 
nobles,  represented,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  constituent 
committee,  were  at  first  treated  with  distinction  and  a 
council  of  twelve  of  their  number  was  appointed  to  act 
as  a  consultative  body  with  the  governing  Twelve. 
However,  this  council  was  presently  discontinued  as  con- 
ferring too  much  influence,  and  the  grandi  were  asked 
to  content  themselves  with  some  purely  administrative 
posts.  In  consequence,  cheated  of  their  hopes,  they 
took  to  lawlessness,  while  the  old  Salimbeni-Tolomei 
feud,  which  had  rested  for  a  time,  flared  up  again,  care- 
fully nourished  by  the  new  rulers  in  the  hope  of  weaken- 
ing their  enemies.  The  next  few  years  once  more  proved 
the  inability  of  the  people  to  assimilate  the  noble  ele- 
ment, and  amply  illustrated  the  countless  woes  inflicted 
on  the  commonwealth  by  the  persistent  social  schism. 
Immediately  after  the  March  revolution  the  emperor 
had  left  the  city  for  Rome  and  did  not  return  till  some 
weeks  after,  when  the  work  of  the  commission,  appointed 
by  himself,  was  done.  In  his  presence  and  with  his 
sanction  the  new  constitution  was,  on  May  1st,  put  in 
force,  and  the  first  Twelve  took  up  their  residence  in  the 
Palazzo  Pubblico.  Their  term  of  office  was  to  last,  as 
with  the  Nine,  two  months,  and  all  the  citizens,  except 
the  nobles  and  the  merchants,  that  is,  the  earlier  govern- 
ing classes,  were  to  be  eligible  to  the  palace.  Again  at 
this  point  we  touch  the  radical  flaw  in  the  political  edifice 
of  Siena  and  of  every  other  commune  in  Italy:  the  com- 
mune having  its  origin  in  a  union  of  groups,  never  suc- 
ceeded in  fusing  them  into  a  whole,  composed  of  elements 
equal  among  themselves  and  equally  subordinated  to 


216  SIENA 

the  government.  Out  of  the  conflict  of  social  classes, 
military  companies,  guilds,  interests  of  all  kinds,  that 
longed-for  product,  the  modern  state  did  not  emerge. 
The  inevitable  result  was  the  perpetuation  of  the  group. 
The  nobles,  divorced  from  power  by  a  renewed  exclu- 
sion, hardened  more  and  more  into  a  political  party, 
called  in  the  political  jargon  of  the  period,  il  monte  dei 
Gentiluomini.  The  merchants,  branded  and  disgraced, 
formed  another  party,  il  monte  dei  Noveschi  or  of  the 
Nine,  while  the  victorious  people,  identified  with  the 
Twelve,  were  called  il  monte  dei  Dodicini.  A  monte 
was  a  thing  like  an  oriental  caste,  into  which  a  man 
found  himself  born  and  from  which  there  was  no 
escape  except  by  death.  With  attachment  to  the  monte 
superseding  every  other  loyalty,  the  party  in  power  felt 
no  scruples  about  securing  by  open  violence  or  by  the 
most  disingenuous  sleight  of  hand  the  possession  of  the 
honors  and  emoluments.* 

The  new  government,  though  a  party  affair,  had  at 
'  least  the  advantage  of  resting  apparently  on  a  broader 
foundation  than  its  predecessors.  The  common  people 
had  won  the  victory,  and  the  earliest  enactments  of  the 
new  government  not  only  employed  a  very  democratic 
language,  but  apparently  pursued  the  plan  of  organizing 
the  state  according  to  a  truly  democratic  ideal.  Twelve 
reorganized  guilds — the  shattered  merchant  guild  was, 
of  course,  not  among  them — received  official  recognition, 
and  every  citizen  was  invited  to  register  in  one  of  them. 
The  total  guild  membership  constituted  the  body  of 
eligible  or  governing  citizens.  So  far  the  new  theory; 

*  On  this  matter  of  parties  see  Paoli,  "I  Monti  nella  Repubblica  di  Siena." 
Nuova  Antologia,  Serie  terza,  1891. 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  217 


the  practice  was  entirely  different.     The 


just  below  the  great  merchants,  shop-keepers  and 
notanes  for  the  most  part,  found  itself1  m  power  on 
themorrow  of  the  March  revolution,  and  was  resolved 
to  hold  fast  to  what  it  had  secured.  No  manstands 
socially  so  low  that  he  cannot  find  somebody  still 
lower  whom  lie  may  Tfeelydesipise.  If  the  social  group 
just  defined  was  envious  of  its  superiors,  it  had  no 
love  for  the  common  people  beneath  it,  and  apart  from 
a  liberal  alms  of  democratic  phrases,  had  no  mind  to  rub 
elbows  with  workingmen.  Through  various  kinds  of 
manipulation,  which  are  common  to  the  professional 
politicians  of  all  ages,  the  Twelve  were  presently  chosen 
from  as  limited  a  circle  as  ever  the  Nine  had  been,  and 
Siena  awakened  from  its  revolutionary  dream  to  discover 
that  it  was  the  victim  of  a  shrewd  band,  which  in  dignity, 
prestige,  and  experience  of  life  stood  far  below  the  former 
nlters.~" 

Such  a  government  asjhis,jguilty  of  monstrous  deceit, 
issuing  democratic  ^  j?romises  while  concerned  only  witK 
distributing  politicaljfavors  ^among  a  small  circle  of 
initiates,  did  not  deserve  to  live.  In  truth,  its  difficulties 
were,  from  the  first  day,  enormous.  On  the  news  of  the 
revolution  in  Siena  many  places  in  the  contado,  such  as 
Grosseto,  Montalcino,  and  Montepulciano,*  revolted  on 
the  convenient  pretext  that  they  had  sworn  loyalty  to 
the  Nine;  the  discontented  nobles  spread  a  constant 
feeling  of  uneasiness;  that  dreadful  scourge  of  mediaeval 
Italy,  the  companies  of  adventure,  put  in  an  appearance 
and  had  to  be  bought  off  by  a  timorous  government  with 

*  Montepulciano  submitted  to  Perugia  and  caused  the  Perugian  war  of 
1357-58.     On  this  conflict  see  Heywood  in  "Bull.  Sen.,"  XIV,  p.  425  ff. 


218  SIENA 

huge  sums  of  florins — admitting  that  here  were  troubles 
inseparable  from  rule  in  those  days,  the  fact  remains 
that  never  did  a  government  prove  more  weak,  irresolute, 
and  incompetent.  The  wonder  is  that  it  lived  for  thir- 
teen years,  especially  as  divisions  soon  appeared  in  its 
own  ranks.  The  one  creditable  act  of  that  whole  period 
was  performed  in  its  despite  by  the  general  of  the 
Republic,  a  Roman  noble  of  the  Orsini  family,  who  diso- 
beying, in  an  access  of  manly  indignation,  the  orders  of 
his  pusillanimous  masters,  attacked  the  plundering 
mercenaries,  known  as  the  Company  of  the  Hat,  and  put 
them  to  rout  (1363).  For  which  uncommanded  victory 
he  had  reason  to  be  thankful  not  to  have  been  made  to 
pay  with  his  head!  What  the  state  of  public  opinion 
was  within  the  walls,  with  Gentiluomini,  Noveschi,  and 
the  cheated  people  muttering  wrath,  is  well  brought  out 
by  the  chronicler  in  a  strikingly  picturesque  passage: 
"And  the  Signori  Dodici  entered  into  great  fear  of  the 
air  (grande  paura  dell' aria!}  and  appointed  police 
captains  in  every  terzo  of  the  city  with  many  soldiers 
under  them;  and  to  these  officials  they  gave  ample 
authority  to  behead  whosoever  should  cough  against 
them  (chiunque  tossisse  contra  /oro),  and  they  issued 
many  and  strict  orders  against  whosoever  should  bring 
to  remembrance  the  emperor,"*  ever  the  extreme  hope 
of  the  lovers  of  change.  Is  another  touch  needed 
to  complete  the  picture  of  a  tyranny,  which,  shut  up 
in  its  palace,  trembles  at  every  chance  noise  in  the 
streets  ? 

The  mere  news  that  Charles  IV  had  come  a  second 
time  to  Italy — evidently  his  exchequer  needed  to  be 

*Muratori,  XV,  192,  E. 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  219 

replenished — sufficed  to  overthrow  the  Twelve.  Again 
a  critical  examination  of  events  will  establish  that  if  the 
emperor's  power  was  small,  his  prestige  was  still  con- 
siderable. Men  of  influence  and  ambition — and  there  was 
no  dearth  of  them  in  Italy — could  always  create  serious 
trouble  in  alliance  with  the  sovereign.  Pushed  to  the 
front  by  skilful  politicians,  this  high  personage  might 
deceive  himself  into  thinking  that  he  was  playing  an 
imperial  role,  while  he  was  really  no  more  than  a  puppet 
in  the  hands  of  clever  manipulators.  Charles  came  to 
Italy  a  second  time,  and  in  the  year  1368  appeared  again 
in  Siena,  but  except  as  a  centre  of  intrigue  and  confusion 
we  can  eliminatejhimjrom  the  extraordinary  succession 
of  disturbances  which  accompanied  his  arrival.  The 
autumn  of  1368  established  a  record,  which  it  would  be 
hard  to  match  even  among  the  turbulent  Italian  cities 
— four  revolutions  in  less  than  four  months! 

Revolution  I. — On  September  2d,  the  nobles,  tem- 
porarily composing  all  their  difficulties,  above  all,  patch- 
ing up  the  ancient  Salimbeni-Tolomei  feud,  proceeded 
to  the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  and  "senza  colpo  di  spada" 
put  the  Twelve  out.  A  fall,  worthy  of  this  ignominious 
company.  Then  the  nobles  set  up  a  government  of 
their  own,  a  strictly  nobiliary  government  such  as  Siena 
had  not  seen  since  the  days  of  the  consuls,  more  than  a 
century  and  a  half  ago.  Of  course  this  anachronism 
had  no  chance  to  live.  As  soon  as  the  emperor's  vicar, 
Malatesta,  commanding  an  armed  force,  arrived  within 
bow-shot  of  the  city,  new  plots  took  shape.  Joined 
with  the  Salimbeni,  who  at  this  juncture  deserted  their 
noble  brethren,  Malatesta  encouraged  a  rising  of  the 
people. 


220  SIENA 

Revolution  2. — On  September  23d  Malatesta,  the 
Salimbeni,  and  the  people  engaged  the  nobles,  and  after 
a  bloody  fight  drove  them  from  the  palace  and  the  city. 
Accordingly,  the  victory  being  in  the  main  a  popular  one, 
a  government  of  twelve  popolani  was  set  up,  wherein  all 
the  various  parties  of  the  people  were  represented.  The 
Noveschi  secured  three  members,  the  Dodicini  four,  and 
/'/  popolo  minuto,  the  hitherto  excluded  lowest  ranks  of 
the  people,  five.  The  Salimbeni,  in  reward  of  their 
powerful  aid,  received  a  number  of  special  concessions, 
among  others,  six  castles  in  the  contado.  Of  course 
these  fine  folk  had  not  played  the  traitor  to  their  class 
for  nothing.  The  upshot  of  the  successful  revolution 
was  that  the  people  were  again  in  control,  three  groups 
thereof,  but  naturally  no  one  group  felt  contented  with 
the  share  secured  by  itself. 

Revolution  3. — On  December  nth  the  popolo  minuto 
stormed  the  palace  and  put  the  Noveschi  and  the  Dodi- 
cini out.  That  left  five  of  their  own  kind  in  office,  to 
which  number  they  added  ten,  making  a  chief  executive 
of  fifteen,  all  of  a  single  political  affiliation.  As  the  coun- 
cil, in  cooperation  with  which  the  new  executive  carried 
on  the  government,  was  called  the  Council  of  the 
Riformatori  (Reformers),  the  new  party  took  the  name 
of  il  monte  dei  Riformatori.  That  meant  the  creation 
of  a  fourth  monte,  the  earlier  three  being  the  Genti- 
luomini,  the  Noveschi,  and  the  Dodicini.  Each  one  of 
them,  let  us  remember,  had  no  political  programme 
other  than  is  expressed  by  the  simple  predatory  formula: 
to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils. 

Revolution  4. — On  December  i6th  (apparently  on 
the  1 6th,  for  the  records  of  these  days  are  inextricably 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  221 

jumbled)  the  Council  of  the  Riformatori  resolved, 
probably  on  account  of  risings  of  the  Noveschi  and  the 
Dodicini,  to  readmit  these  parties  to  office,  but  not  in  the 
original  proportion.  The  governing  committee  was 
still  to  be  fifteen,  of  whom  eight  must  be  Riformatori, 
while  four  seats  were  conceded  to  the  Dodicini,  and 
three  to  the  Noveschi.  Though  it  must  strike  us  as 
something  of  an  innovation  for  a  victorious  party  not 
only  to  agree  that  rival  parties  had  a  right  to  live,  but  to 
make  a  place  for  them  at  its  side,  let  us  not  fail  to  note 
that  the  Riformatori  were  careful  to  secure  a  clear  pre- 
ponderance to  themselves.  The  exclusion  of  the  nobil- 
ity was  of  course  maintained. 

When  after  three  months  of  perpetual  disturbances 
the  new  government,  called  the  Fifteen,  or,  more  usually, 
the  Riformatori,  was  installed  in  the  palace,  Charles  IV 
arrived  in  Siena.  He  entered  the  city  on  December  22, 
1368.  He  had  always  kept  up  a  special  intimacy  with 
the  Salimbeni,  and  the  Salimbeni,  at  outs  with  their 
own  class,  and  in  need,  in  the  dangerous  local  game,  of 
allies,  usually  cooperated  with  the  Dodicini.  Charles's 
friendly  relation  with  the  Salimbeni,  at  whose  palace 
he  took  up  his  residence,  led  to  his  undoing.  He  agreed 
to  help  in  an  attempt  to  overthrow  the  Riformatori,  and 
on  January  18,  1369,  the  plot  came  to  a  head.  Then 
the  people  showed  some  of  their  ancient  quality.  In  a 
fierce  battle  for  the  possession  of  the  Campo,  Charles's 
knights  were  beaten  back  and  broken  by  the  almost 
unanimous  forces  of  the  citizens,  who  hurriedly  patched 
up  their  local  differences  in  the  face  of  an  attack  on  their 
independence  by  a  foreign  usurper.  At  nightfall  the 
emperor  found  himself  shut  up  as  a  prisoner  in  the 


222  SIENA 

houses  of  the  Salimbeni.  On  being  visited  by  the  victo- 
rious rulers  he  showed  the  stuff  he  was  made  of.  He 
sobbed,  wept,  threw  his  arms  about  every  one  who  came 
within  reach,  protesting — as  was  probably  true — that  he 
was  the  victim  of  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Salimbeni 
and  the  Dodicini.  He  was  ready  for  any  concession. 
The  Riformatori  had  his  notary  draw  up  an  imperial 
privilege,  nominating  them  vicars  of  the  empire,  and  not 
without  scorn,  we  may  believe,  permitted  him  to  with- 
draw from  the  city.  Charles's  terror,  great  as  it  was, 
did  not  so  get  the  better  of  his  greed  as  to  induce  him  to 
forget  to  ask  for  the  usual  compensation  accompanying 
a  diploma  which  emanated  from  his  chancellery. 

This  event,  particularly  interesting  in  showing  that 
the  civic  spirit  had  not  yet  been  entirely  killed  by  the 
frenzy  of  party,  made  only  a  passing  impression  on  the 
life  of  the  city.  The  Riformatori  hopefully  tried  to  take 
advantage  of  the  momentary  outburst  of  patriotism  in 
order  to  heal  the  local  schisms.  They  commanded 
(January  31,  1369)  a  solemn  mass  of  peace  (messa  della 
pace}  in  the  cathedral  to  be  attended  by  Noveschi, 
Dodicini,  and  Riformatori,  that  is,  all  the  popular  parties, 
on  the  conclusion  of  which  they  should  make  peace  with 
one  another  and  promise  to  be  loyal  to  the  existing 
government.  The  Fifteen  had  already  attempted  to 
replace  the  odious  party  designations  with  new  and  more 
honorable  terms,  which  recognized  the  tie  of  civic 
brotherhood :  the  Noveschi  were  to  be  called  popolo  del 
piccolo  numero  (People  of  the  small  following),  the 
Dodicini,  popolo  del  numero  media  (People  of  the  moder- 
ate following),  and  the  Riformatori,  popolo  del  maggior 
numero  (People  of  the  largest  following) — all  to  no 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  223 

effect.  True,  the  Riformatori  showed  a  greater  liber- 
ality than  their  predecessors  by  admitting  Noveschi  and 
Dodicini  to  office  along  with  themselves,  but  by  setting 
up  a  machinery  which  planned  to  secure  their  perma- 
nent control  of  power,  they  showed  that  they  were  de- 
voted to  an  undemocratic  principle  which  could  not 
possibly  serve  as  the  seed  of  the  modern  state. 

The  Riformatori  held  the  helm  for  seventeen  years 
(from  ^b^-JaZZ^E^m-the  midst  of  a  situation  which 
grew  not  better,  but  seemed  daily  to  grow  worse.  The 
c^rfrpanjes_ofadventure  continued  to  molest  the  country- 
side.  Famine  and  famine  prices  were  added  to  the  now 
permanent  industrial  depression.  In  1371  the  starving 
woolen  workers  of  the  quarter  of  Ovile  rose  and  par- 
tially overthrew  the  government;  thereupon  the  Salim- 
beni  and  the  Dodicini,  falling  on  them  at  an  unexpected 
moment,  took  revenge  by  a  terrible  massacre  of  these 
poor  wretches.  Crimes  were  of  daily  occurrence,  and 
men  grew  brutalized  by  the  chronic  disorder  to  the  point 
of  taking  delight  in  intolerable  cruelties.  What  are  we 
to  think  of  a  civilization  which  suffered  its  criminals  to 
be  torn  to  pieces  with  red-hot  pincers  while  bound  upon 
a  cart  moving  along  the  street  at  a  walking  pace  ?* 
Small  wonder  that  the  good  chronicler  waxes  despond- 
ent. He  can  account  for  the  wickedness  of  the  time 
only  by  the  operation  of  occult  influences  :f 

"At  this  time  there  reigned  in  the  world  a  planet  which  had 
these  effects:  The  brothers  of  S.  Augustine  fell  upon  their  provin- 

*  Muratori,  XV,  250  B  (1377).  However,  this  punishment  was  not 
peculiar  to  Siena,  but  common  to  the  criminal  justice  of  the  Middle  Age. 
See  Molmenti,  "Venice,"  Part  II,  Vol.  I,  39. 

t  Muratori,  XV,  238  B  (1373). 


224  SIENA 

cial  with  knives  and  killed  him.  ...  At  Assisi  the  Brothers  Minor 
fell  to  quarreling  and  butchered  some  fourteen  of  their  number. 
Everywhere  in  the  world  apparently  there  were  dissensions  and 
bloody  encounters  innumerable,  which  I  mention  not  for  very 
shame.  In  Siena  no  man  understood  or  kept  faith :  the  Gentiluo- 
mini  kept  it  neither  among  themselves  nor  with  others;  the  Nove- 
schi  neither  among  themselves  nor  with  others;  the  Dodicini 
neither  among  themselves  nor  with  others;  and  the  Riformatori, 
to  wit,  those  that  ruled,  neither  with  one  another  nor  with  others 
in  any  perfect  wise.  And  so  the  world  is  all  one  darkness." 

And  so  the  world  is  all  one  darkness!  The  cry,  we 
may  note  in  passing,  of  some  chronicler  at  almost  every 
period  of  the  Middle  Age. 

In  the  year  1385  the  Riformatori  were  overthrown 
and  another  government  formed  which,  excluding  them, 
was  composed  of  Noveschi,  Dodicini,  and  another  party 
organized  from  a  social  stratum  still  lower  than  the 
Riformatori,  and  called  for  short  //  Popolo.  Naturally 
this  group  formed  a  new  monte,  il  monte  del  Popolo, 
the  fifth,  and  we  are  relieved  to  find,  the  last  in  the 
distraught  political  history  of  Siena.  There  is  no  profit 
in  following  the  tale  further.  Henceforth  no  one 
monte  dreamt  of  being  able  to  exclude  all  the  others, 
but  each  plotted  to  get  improved  terms  for  itself,  entering 
into  alliances  which  shifted  as  the  interest  of  the  moment 
dictated.  Never  in  old  Hellas  was  there  a  more  self- 
ensnarled  city  than  Siena,  and  as  in  Hellas,  the  only 
remedy  for  a  state  which  could  not  compose  its  quarrels 
became  the  tyrant.  Men  being  men,  which  is  to  say, 
when  their  passions  are  aroused,  not  far  above  beasts  of 
the  forest,  the  tyrant  was  the  only  conceivable  door 
through  which  mediaeval  society  could  pass  to  the  realiz- 


The  Palazzo  Piccolomini 


THE   CIVIL  STRUGGLE  225 

ation  of  democratic  justice  and  equality.  With  matters 
at  this  pass  the  chief  regret  must  be  that  the  tyrant  so 
long  delayed  his  arrival. 

This  hurried  review  of  the  political  movements  of 
the  fourteenth  century  has  omitted  or  blurred  the 
numberless  details  which  enter  into  each  particular  situa- 
tion. To  some  factors  I  have  not  given  sufficient  prom- 
inence, others  I  have  passed  over  with  silence.  I  ven- 
ture to  hope  that  I  have  at  least  made  clear  why  the 
Sienese  people,  though  haunted  by  democratic  longings, 
never  succeeded  in  establishing  an  effective  democracy. 
But  the  disheartening  evolution,  which  we  have  followed 
to  a  kind  of  political  stale-mate,  cannot  be  explained 
entirely  by  the  furious  party  spirit,  or  by  the  fickleness, 
the  excitability,  and  the  other  defects  of  the  Sienese 
temper.  There  is  another  cause  which  must  at  least 
be  mentioned  in  this  connection.  I  have  already  pointed 
out  the  intimate  relations  which  necessarily  existed 
from  the  first  between  the  political  movements  in  the 
city  and  its  economic  development.  Now,  economically, 
Siena  fell  into  a  sad  decline  in  the  fourteenth  century. 
If,  during  the  first  decades  of  that  century,  at  the  height 
of  the  power  of  the  merchants,  industry  and  commerce 
continued,  in  the  main,  to  grow,  they  certainly  did  not 
advance  at  anything  like  the  pace  maintained  by 
neighboring  Florence.  As  a  money  centre,  in  which 
capacity  we  found  Siena  enjoying  preeminence  and 
harvesting  wealth  about  the  year  1250,  the  town  had 
fallen  into  the  background.  The  popes  from  the  period 
of  Montaperti  gave  preference  to  the  Florentine  bankers, 
until  in  1309  they  dropped  suddenly  and  entirely  out  of 
the  Italian  financial  world  by  deserting  Rome  and  es- 


226  SIENA 

tablishing  their  residence  across  the  Alps  in  far-away 
Avignon.  However,  this  withdrawal  of  the  papal  moneys 
from  Sienese  hands  was  not  in  itself  an  irreparable  blow, 
for  truth  to  tell  the  pontiffs  were  already  completely 
superseded  as  a  factor  in  the  financial  world  by  the 
great  merchants.  These  had  captained  the  vast 
movement  of  commercial  expansion,  which  showed  a 
splendid  energy  especially  early  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, and  which  more  than  the  revival  of  learning,  the 
religious  unrest,  and  all  other  causes  whatsoever,  im- 
pressed the  modern  stamp  upon  the  European  world. 
Of  the  new  system  of  capitalistic  production,  created  by 
the  quickened  pace  of  industry  and  commerce,  Florence 
became  the  undisputed  head.  Absolutely,  the  resources 
of  Siena  continued  to  grow,  but,  relatively,  the  increase 
was  insignificant,  compared  with  that  of  Florence, 
Genoa,  Venice,  and  a  dozen  other  centres,  more  favora- 
bly planted  along  the  great  international  highways. 
The  town,  regarded  from  the  economic  point  of  view, 
did  not  perish,  but  it  was  left  behind  in  the  race. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  decline  in  banking  and  com- 
merce went  the  decline  in  industry.  In  spite  of  the 
difficulties  experienced  by  the  wool-guild,  difficulties, 
it  may  be  remembered,  springing  largely  from  the  lack 
of  water,  the  manufacture  of  woolens  continued  in  the 
fourteenth  century  to  be  a  considerable  source  of  wealth 
and  to  give  employment  to  many  workers.  The  prole- 
tariat of  this  industry,  concentrated  largely  in  the 
quarter  of  Ovile,  numbered  several  thousands.  In  the 
recurrent  periods  of  industrial  depression  or  in  time 
of  high  bread  prices,  their  condition  must  have  been 
terrible.  That  they  organized  in  1371  and  sought 


THE  CIVIL  STRUGGLE  227 

redress  by  violence  proves  that  they  were  growing 
desperate;  decimated  for  their  pains  by  a  cowardly 
massacre  conducted  by  the  Salimbeni  and  the  Dodicini, 
they  and  other  workingmen  of  a  too  independent  leaning 
were,  on  the  fall  of  the  Riformatori  (1385),  expelled,  to 
the  number  of  four  thousand,  from  the  city.*  This 
almost  ludicrous  act  of  party  fury  may  be  taken  to  mark 
the  end  in  Siena  of  capitalistic  production  on  a  large 
scale.  To  be  sure,  almost  every  known  craft  continued 
to  be  represented  on  the  roster  of  the  city's  activities, 
but  they  were  all  conducted,  in  prevailing  degree  at 
least,  under  the  system  of  private  or  individual  produc- 
tion, characteristic  of  a  backward  industrial  community. 
In  the  decline  of  Siena  the  fortunes  of  the  contado  had 
a  considerable  share,  for  an  uninterrupted  chain  of 
wars,  risings,  and  deeds  of  petty  lawlessness  gravely 
affected  agricultural  production.  A  leading  source  of 
trouble  in  the  countryside  was  ever  the  nobility.  Siena 
had  to  pay  a  terrible  price  for  being  able  neither  to 
destroy  nor  to  assimilate  this  class.  From  the  hills, 
where  their  castles  were  situated,  they  could  always 
harry  the  burghers  at  will,  and  though  beaten  again  and 
again,  were  not,  till  considerably  after  the  period  which 
we  are  glancing  at,  definitely  reduced  to  order.  If  Siena 
had  become  really  industrialized,  the  organized  power  of 
the  citizens  would  have  irresistibly  swept  the  nobles  from 
their  points  of  vantage;  that  is  what  came  to  pass  in 
happier  Florence.  Add  to  the  difficulties  associated 

*  Even  the  chronicler  cannot  refrain  from  crying  out  upon  this  folly : 
"  E  io  scrittore,  che  non  so'  di'  Riformatori,  giudicai  essere  mal  fatto,  perche 
si  guasto  e  disfece  la  citta  di  Siena,  che  in  piu  volte  furno  cacciate  piu  di 
quattro  mila  buoni  artigiani  Cittadini  della  citta,  che  non  ne  torno  mai  el 
sesto."  Muratori,  XV,  294. 


228  SIENA 

with  the  nobles  the  raids  of  the  companies  of  adventure 
which,  throughout  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  killed  peasants,  burned  farmsteads,  drove  off 
the  herds  of  sheep,  goats,  and  cattle,  and  we  shall  under- 
stand that  the  troubles  of  agriculture  were  no  less  grave 
than  those  of  manufacture,  and  that  their  interaction 
must  have  affected  disastrously  the  material  welfare 
of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  the  town's  jurisdic- 
tion. So  much  for  the  affairs  of  the  contado  at  this 
point;  in  the  following  chapter  I  shall  attempt  to  develop 
a  connected  picture  of  them. 

In  view  of  facts  such  as  these,  the  opinion  is  untenable 
that  Siena  owed  her  decline  to  her  political  ills.  She 
owed  it  to  these  ills  in  association  with  a  score  of  economic 
factors,  glanced  at  in  the  above  analysis.*  In  any 
case  she  declined,  not  absolutely,  let  me  remark  again, 
but  relatively,  and  steered  her  course  to  that  haven  of 
provincialism,  where  happily  or  regrettably,  according 
to  the  reader's  point  of  view,  she  has  ridden  at  anchor 
to  this  day. 

*  A  programme  of  reforms,  drawn  up  in  1382  by  a  special  commission, 
unfolds  a  most  cheerless  picture  of  the  city's  finances.  A  government's 
finances  are,  let  us  remember,  an  excellent  indication  of  its  general  state  of 
health.  The  monthly  expenses  surpassed  by  4,000  florins  the  monthly 
revenues  and  the  city  was  heavily  in  debt.  The  report  is  a  cry  of  despair. 
It  has  been  published  by  Lisini,  "Prowedimenti  Economici  della  Repubblica 
di  Siena  nel  1382." 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE   SIENESE   CONTADO 

THE  intimate  relation  subsisting  between  Siena  and 
its  contado  makes  it  desirable  to  give  special 
attention  to  some  of  the  problems  and  conditions 
of  the  wide  region  around  the  walls.  We  have  seen  how 
the  rising  commune  reached  out  to  control  the  great 
highways,  and  how  its  action  not  only  led  to  a  clash  with 
the  feudal  lords  established  along  their  course,  but  was 
also  at  the  bottom  of  the  rivalry  with  Florence  and  other 
city  neighbors,  moved  by  a  similar  ambition.  While  I 
have  traced  the  general  march  of  affairs,  showing  the 
gradual  subjugation  of  the  Soarzi,  Cacciaconti,  Arden- 
gheschi,  and  other  noble  houses  to  the  young  commune, 
and  while  I  have  followed  the  wars  with  Florence  over 
Poggibonsi,  Montepulciano  and  other  provincial  points 
of  vantage,  I  have  not  examined  the  country  for  its  own 
sake.  I  purpose  to  do  that  now,  starting  with  the  period 
of  the  potesta,  when  the  feudal  lords,  although  still 
powerful,  were  beginning  to  show  the  effects  of  the  long 
battering  to  which  they  had  been  exposed  in  the  era 
of  the  consuls. 

In  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  great 
families  of  the  contado  were  broken  up,  and,  with  few 
exceptions,  vanished  from  the  scene.  A  handful  had 
the  good  fortune  or  rather  the  intellectual  elasticity  to 
adjust  themselves  to  the  new  conditions.  Thus  one  line 

229 


230  SIENA 

of  the  many-branched  Cacciaconti  moved  to  Siena,  took 
up  a  mercantile  career,  and  conducted  successful 
financial  operations  on  the  fairs  of  Champagne.  After 
a  generation  it  was  probably  indistinguishable  from  the 
city  nobility,  which,  of  course,  readily  admitted  wealthy 
newcomers  of  approved  station  into  its  ranks.  How- 
ever, in  general,  the  feudal  lords,  perplexed  by  the  urban 
movement  and  hindered  by  it  in  the  exercise  of  their 
accustomed  liberties,  hated  it  with  all  the  vigor  of  a 
whole-hearted  prejudice.  Over  such  obdurate  noble- 
men time  passed  pitilessly  with  its  iron  car.  When 
they  were  not  sought  out  on  their  hill-tops  by  the 
burgher  host,  which  piled  their  ruined  castles  over  them 
for  a  monument,  they  fell  victims  to  the  new  civilization 
in  a  more  insidious  manner.  In  some  cases  they  would 
enter  into  an  engagement  with  the  city  with  regard  to 
one  or  another  of  their  castles,  and  when  they  failed  to 
observe  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the  municipal  authorities 
would  seize  the  forfeited  property.  Or,  fond  of  display, 
and  persuaded  that  their  station  obliged  them  to  parade 
a  new  war  horse  or  a  suit  of  sables,  they  would  make  a 
light-hearted  loan  of  a  prosperous  banker,  who  presently 
placed  a  bailiff  in  the  court-yard.  One  authentic 
example,  showing  how  poverty  waited  upon  grandeur, 
may  serve  in  place  of  further  explanation.  In  the  year 
1296  we  find  a  curious  entry  in  the  city  account  books: 
"  item,  three  lire  for  a  cloak  given  to  Nicholas,  count  of 
Rocca  di  Tintinnano,  causa  paupertatis" — by  reason  of 
his  poverty!  *  And  two  years  later  the  gift  is  repeated, 
and  with  a  fine  regard  for  a  gentleman's  necessities,  a 
pair  of  boots  thrown  in.  The  Rocca  di  Tintinnano, 

*  Archivio  di  Stato.     I  Libri  della  Biccherna,  1296.     Uscite  c.  233. 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  231 

rising  high  over  the  via  francigena  at  the  point  where 
the  great  road  crossed  the  river  Orcia,  was  a  position  of 
inestimable  advantage.  Toward  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century  the  counts,  harassed  by  debts,  sold 
it  to  Siena,*  and  before  the  century  had  drawn  to  a  close, 
a  decayed  but  authentic  descendant,  the  above  Nicholas, 
scraped  his  thanks  to  the  Signori  Nove  for  the  gift  of  a 
cloak.  A  pathetic  evolution  this,  probably  not  untypical 
of  the  fortunes  of  the  landed  gentry  after  the  grinding 
process,  to  which  the  old  order  was  subjected  by  the  rise 
of  new  classes,  had  continued  for  a  few  generations. 

If,  in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  original 
feudal  masters  of  the  contado  almost  disappeared,  a 
partial  exception  to  this  general  decline  is  to  be  noted 
in  the  case  of  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  great  families, 
the  Aldobrandeschi.  Their  distance  from  Siena  and  the 
vastness  of  their  territory,  as  well  as  its  wild,  inaccessible 
character,  explain  why  they  were  able  to  maintain 
themselves  somewhat  longer  than  others  of  their  kind. 
When,  as  has  been  recounted,  Siena  in  the  year  1224 
seized  the  town  of  Grosseto,  she  got  a  foothold  at  a 
point  of  vantage,  from  which  she  could  gradually  work 
her  way  toward  the  baronial  strongholds  in  the  scarped 
and  wooded  Monte  Amiata  region.  As  late,  however,  as 
the  time  of  the  Nine,  the  great  Maremma  counts,  who 
had  meanwhile  split  into  the  two  branches  of  Santa 
Fiora  and  Pitigliano,  continued  to  make  occasional 
trouble  for  Siena,f  but  treaties  of  alliance,  shrewdly 
transformed  by  the  grasping  burghers  into  treaties  of 
subjection,  ended  by  absorbing  the  Aldobrandeschi 
estates  into  the  dominion  of  the  Republic.  When,  in 

*  Bull.  Sen,  III,  p.  327.  t  See  chap.  7,  p.  203. 


232  SIENA 

the  early  fifteenth  century,  the  last  male  of  the  family 
died,  the  fortunes  of  the  house  had  sunk  so  low  that 
the  event  hardly  attracted  the  notice  of  contemporaries. 
For  the  student  of  Italian  feudalism,  above  all  on  its 
social  side,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  en- 
gaging field  of  inquiry  than  the  rise  and  decline  of 
the  great  clan  of  the  Aldobrandeschi.* 

While  the  burghers  inhabiting  such  great  common- 
wealths as  Florence  and  Siena  are  chiefly  responsible  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  feudal  nobility  in  Tuscany,  another 
social  element,  to  which  I  desire  now  to  call  attention, 
contributed  in  no  mean  manner  to  the  passing  of  the 
order.  I  am  referring  to  the  peasantry,  who,  though 
poor  and  down-trodden,  were  none  the  less  deeply  af- 
fected by  the  passion  for  civil  liberty  marking  the  twelfth 
century  and  culminating  in  the  establishment  of  self- 
governing  consuls  in  all  the  Italian  towns.  The  simple 
fact  is  that  the  breath  of  freedom  wafted  abroad  waked 
even  the  most  remote  agricultural  districts  to  new  life. 
It  may  prove  interesting  to  inquire  a  little  more  particu- 
larly just  what  changes  this  liberating  movement  brought 
about,  first,  in  the  relation  of  the  lords  to  their  peasants, 
and,  second,  in  the  general  level  of  comfort  and  dignity 
maintained  by  the  humble  tillers  of  the  soil. 

Originally,  wherever  feudalism  held  sway,  the 
country  folk  were  largely  serfs  who  cultivated  their 
lands  under  a  system  of  tenure,  obliging  them  to  pay 

*  Such  a  social-political  study  as  I  have  in  mind  has  never  been  under- 
taken, though  much  material  dealing  with  the  Aldobrandeschi  fortunes  has 
been  diligently  collected.  See  Berlinghieri,  "  Notizie  degli  Aldobrandeschi "; 
Milanesi,  "  Periodico  di  Numismatica,"  Vol.  I  (1868),  p.  no  ff.\  Repetti, 
"  Dizionario  geografico,"  Appendice,  chap.  12;  Davidsohh,  "  Forschungen 
zur  Geschichte  von  Florenz,"  Vol.  I,  p.  94;  and  numerous  notices  (passim) 
in  "Bull.  Sen."  and  "Mis.  Stor.  Sen." 


I! 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  233 

certain  customary  dues,  in  the  form  of  personal  services, 
farm  products,  or  money  to  their  lords.  It  lay  in  the 
haphazard  nature  of  the  feudal  bond — to  dignify  it  with 
the  name  of  the  feudal  system  is  an  act  of  excessive 
courtesy — that  these  dues  varied  greatly  from  province 
to  province,  often  from  neighbor  to  neighbor.  The 
lord  dwelt  in  a  fortified  castle,  wherein,  however,  his 
dependents  were  not  without  rights,  for  they  stored  their 
grain  and  wine  within  its  walls.  Davidsohn,  writing 
of  the  Arno  valley,*  has  shown  how  this  common 
interest  in  a  central  stronghold  gradually  led  to  definite 
agreements  between  the  lords  and  the  agricultural 
population,  and  how  these  agreements  exhibit  a  steady 
improvement  in  the  social  and  economic  status  of  the 
peasantry.  It  is  with  distinct  surprise  that  the  student, 
accustomed  to  think  of  the  feudal  age  as  one  of  unlimited 
petty  tyrany,  will  learn  that  by  the  twelfth  century  the 
peasants,  usually  grouped  together  in  a  village  at  the 
foot  of  a  castle,  had  generally  acquired  an  appreciable 
measure  of  self-government.  For  the  Sienese  contado 
the  proofs  of  this  advance  are  numerous.  We  have 
heard  of  the  Rocca  di  Tintinnano  whose  impoverished 
count,  shortly  before  the  year  1300,  had  become  a 
pensioner  of  Siena.  In  1207,  when  the  needy  Nicholas's 
ancestors  still  breathed  the  free  air  of  the  Orcia  valley, 
they  conceded — hardly  of  their  own  will,  we  may  opine 
— a  carta  libertatis  f  to  the  villagers.  This  instrument 
recognized  a  consul  of  the  community  of  peasants,  who 
exercised  certain  functions  of  government  and  received 


*  Geschichte  von  Florenz,  chap.  8. 

t  Published,  with   valuable  comment,  by  Zdekauer,  "Bull,  Sen.,"  Ill,  ft. 


234  SIENA 

a  certain  share  of  the  dues,  while  a  second  consul, 
representing  the  lords,  received  the  remaining  and  more 
considerable  part  of  the  imposts.  Although  the  con- 
tinued exploitation  of  the  peasants  appears  unquestion- 
ably from  this  document,  the  weighty  fact  remains  that 
the  counts  came  to  terms  with  their  dependents,  and 
that  the  conceded  charter  was,  if  not  a  guarantee  of 
absolute  justice,  at  least  a  check  upon  unlimited  abuse. 
And  what  happened  at  Rocca  was  duplicated  at  about 
the  same  time  in  the  hundreds  of  castelli  and  borghi 
which,  like  giants  in  ambush,  lay  hidden  among  the 
woods  and  hills  of  the  Sienese  contado.*  Must  we 
infer  that  humanitarian  principles  were  beginning  to 
make  their  way  among  the  landholders,  possibly  through 
the  teaching  of  the  church  ?  Certainly  not.  The 
growth  of  the  cities  in  the  twelfth  century  reacted 
favorably  on  the  country,  higher  food  prices  prevailed, 
and  the  peasants  necessarily  benefited  from  the  general 
prosperity.  When  to  the  economic  advance  was  joined 
the  spirit  of  liberty  emanating  from  the  great  communes, 
the  peasants  irresistibly  forced  a  reduction  of  the  feudal 
services  and  their  admission  to  a  part-control  of  what- 
ever was  common  to  themselves  and  their  masters. 
By  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  the  grip  of 
feudalism  upon  the  lives  of  its  agricultural  dependents 
was  visibly  relaxing. 

At  the  very  time  when  the  lords  were  confronted  with 


*  See  on  this  point  Zdekauer  "Sugli  Statuti  del  Monte  Amiata  (1212- 
1451),"  published  in  Studi  Guiridici  Dedicati  a  F.  Schupfer,  Torino,  1898. 
In  this  article  Zdekauer,  examining  a  half  dozen  little  communities  subject 
to  the  abbot  of  S.  Salvatore  of  Monte  Amiata  shows  (i)  their  political  restless- 
ness, and  (2)  their  steady  wrenching  of  self-governing  rights  from  an  un- 
willing master. 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  235 

the  danger  of  a  peasant  agitation,  they  were  obliged  to 
meet,  as  we  know,  an  attack  from  another  side — from  the 
side  of  the  commune  of  Siena  determined  to  extend  its 
political  territory.  In  this  struggle  the  burghers  were 
successful,  adopting  in  general  toward  the  defeated 
barons  the  following  procedure:  At  first  they  were 
content  with  a  rather  vague  "submission"  of  the  feudal 
owners  of  the  soil,  taking  the  form  of  a  tribute  to  the 
Virgin  on  the  occasion  of  her  Mid-August  festival;  but, 
presently,  discovering  that  such  a  relation  did  not  suffi- 
ciently bind  the  unruly  lords  to  the  city,  they  tried,  either 
by  purchase  or  conquest,  to  detach  the  ancient  masters 
entirely  from  their  possessions.  To  refer  again,  for 
purposes  of  illustration,  to  the  now  familiar  Rocca  di 
Tintinnano,  we  find  that  Siena,  after  experimenting 
with  the  loyalty  of  the  owners,  bought  them  out  fully 
and  completely  in  the  year  1250,  and  obliged  them  to 
remove  from  their  hereditary  seat.  The  step  involved 
the  extension  of  the  municipal  administration  to  the 
appropriated  district.  Accordingly,  the  city  placed  a 
paid  official,  called  castellano,  in  the  Rocca,  and  of 
course  followed  the  same  plan  with  regard  to  other 
strongholds  seized  under  similar  conditions.  A  castel- 
lano,  while  exercising,  in  the  name  of  the  commune, 
all  the  rights  of  his  feudal  predecessor,  might  be  sup- 
posed to  foster  and  strengthen  the  self-governing  insti- 
tutions developed  by  the  peasants  who  dwelt  at  the 
castle's  foot.  The  evolution  thus  effected  from  feudal 
to  burgher  rule  promised  the  villages  a  fair  share  in  the 
golden  future  of  Siena. 

Unfortunately,  however,  this  promising  development 
was  choked  while  it  was  yet  in  the  bud.     Siena  was 


236  . .     SIENA 

playing,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  a  big  political  game 
of  the  kind  we  "now  designate  as  world-politics.  The 
prime  requirement  for  world-politics  then  as  now  is 
money.  The  fiscal  needs  of  the  city  in  the  prolonged 
Tuscan  turmoil  were  very  great,  and  brought  with  them 
not  only  increasing  taxes,  but  also  loans  at  usurious  and 
often  ruinous  rates.  The  loan  money  was  supplied  by 
the  great  merchant  houses,  the  Tolomei,  the  Salimbeni, 
the  Buonsignori  and  the  rest,  who,  beginning  with  the 
practice  of  taking  in  pledge  the  communal  property, 
and  more  particularly  the  conquered  feudal  castles  of 
the  contado,  ended  by  assuming  full  rights  in  the  mort- 
gaged possessions.  What  was  the  result  ?  Toward  the 
year  1300  the  original  country  nobility  had  been  largely 
replaced  in  its  ancient  strongholds  by  the  newer  city  no- 
bility, who,  after  the  manner  of  upstarts,  insisted  jealously 
on  all  the  rights  that  went  with  their  titles,  and  who,  in 
their  capacity  of  absentee  landlords,  were  less  cordially 
united  with  the  peasantry  than  the  vanished  masters. 
Thus  the  Rocca  di  Tintinnano,  repeatedly  referred  to, 
received  a  charter  of  liberty  from  its  feudal  masters  in 
1207,  and  saw  them  take  their  definitive  departure  in 
1250,  when  Siena  acquired  all  their  rights  for  a  round 
sum;  a  generation  later,  in  1274,  the  Rocca  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  Salimbeni,  probably  as  payment  for  finan- 
cial help  extended  during  the  recent  war  with  Florence. 
Innumerable  are  the  examples  showing  that  this  devolu- 
tion from  baron  to  banker  denoted  a  typical  process 
throughout  the  country.  I  cite  only  one  more  case,  that 
of  San  Giovanni  d'Asso,  an  important  castle  to  the 
east,  not  far  from  Asciano.*  Its  feudal  masters  were  the 

*  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  II,  p.  90. 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  237 

great  counts  Forteguerri,  who  as  early  as  1151  mort- 
gaged it  to  Siena — the  usual  financial  preliminary  to 
political  disaster.  Accordingly,  in  1208,  we  find  the 
Forteguerri  out  and  Siena  in;  but  not  for  long,  for  in 
1256  we  learn  that  San  Giovanni  d'Asso  has  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  Buonsignori,  there  to  remain  till  that 
famous  banking  house  went  into  liquidation;  finally,  in 
1303,  the  Salimbeni,  presumably  owing  to  a  forced  sale, 
took  possession.  Can  we  want  a  better  example  of 
how  the  state  made  over  its  assets  to  the  money-lenders 
who  financed  its  political  ambitions,  thereby  thought- 
lessly creating  a  second  country  nobility  on  the  ruins  of 
the  older  baronage  destroyed  by  the  sword  ? 

Thus  did  the  city,  after  holding  out  to  the  peasant 
communities  for  one  radiant  moment  the  delusive  hope 
of  liberty,  yield  to  its  cruel  needs  and  thrust  the  vil- 
lages back  into  their  old  dependence.  World-politics, 
I  say,  with  their  inevitable  bill  for  military  glory. 
To  this  feature  of  the  hard  lot  of  the  struggling 
peasantry  should  be  added  as  a  factor  of  at  least  equal 
importance,  the  economic  selfishness  which  has  always 
characterized  city-states  in  their  treatment  of  subject 
populations.  In  distributing  the  taxes  urban  rulers 
have  rarely  scrupled  to  lighten  their  own  burdens  at  the 
expense  of  their  agricultural  clients.  At  Siena  the  great 
preoccupation  of  the  various  governments — the  Twenty- 
four,  the  Nine,  the  Twelve  and  so  forth — was  cheap 
food  for  the  dwellers  within  the  walls,  no  matter  what 
violence  had  to  be  done  to  achieve  the  result.  Cheap 
food  would  help  keep  the  urban  masses  quiet,  besides 
making  it  possible  for  the  manufacturing  interests,  with 
which  the  life  of  the  city  was  bound  up,  to  pay  low 


238  SIENA 

wages.  Therefore  mediaeval  Siena  always  followed  a 
policy  of  most  arbitrary  interference  with  the  laws  of 
exchange.  To  send  breadstufFs  across  the  boundary  to 
Florence  or  other  centres  was  rigorously  forbidden. 
Producers  had  to  market  their  harvests  in  Siena  in  the 
hope  that  a  continued  abundance  would  depress  prices; 
and  if  the  prices  did  rise,  as  they  would  in  years  of  poor 
crops,  the  city  governors  made  sure  that  the  growers 
received  no  benefit  from  the  circumstance  by  fixing  a 
maximum  price  for  all  leading  articles.  To  hinder 
monopolization — really  a  very  constant  peril  in  an 
artificially  limited  market — an  elaborate  legislation  was 
formulated  with  the  object  of  eliminating  the  middleman 
and  transferring  the  necessities  of  life  directly  from  the 
producer  to  the  consumer.  All  such  manipulation  of 
the  natural  processes  of  exchange  must  strike  us  as  the 
height  of  folly  as  well  as  of  injustice,  unless  we  keep 
before  our  minds  that  in  the  Middle  Age  we  are  dealing 
not  with  the  vast  national  agglomerations  of  to-day  but 
with  small  urban  units,  and  that  the  victorious  burgher, 
devoted  passionately  to  his  particular  commune,  made 
everything  else  subservient  to  its  interests  as  these 
defined  themselves  to  his  understanding.* 

Nor  does  this  complete  the  tale  of  the  oppression 

*  The  policy  of  the  artificial  control  of  the  food  market,  imposed  by  the 
bourgeoisie,  grew  more  rigorous  in  measure  as  the  people  drove  the  nobility 
from  power.  At  first,  therefore,  the  divieto  or  prohibition  to  export  agri- 
cultural products  was  exceptional.  By  the  time  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
year  1262  the  divieto  had  already  become  more  or  less  permanent  (Dist.,  I, 
24),  but  full  and  comprehensive  legislation  on  the  subject  was  reserved  to 
the  Nine  (Statuto  del  Divieto  del  1300  in  the  Arch,  di  Stato).  See  on  this 
question  Salvemini,  Magnati  e  Popolari  in  Firenze,  pp.  47-5°,  and  Caggese, 
Siena  e  il  suo  Contado,  Bull,  Sen.,  XIII.  See  further  on  the  whole  economic 
issue,  Mengozzi,  La  charta  Bannorum  etc.,  Bull.  Sen.,  XIII,  381^".,  and 
Lisini,  Prowedimenti  Economici  della  R.  di  Siena  nel  1382. 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  239 

practised  by  the  city  against  the  country  population. 
In  addition  to  the  above  burdens  resting  on  the  free 
exchange  of  farm  products  and  constituting  a  series 
of  indirect  imposts,  a  direct  sum  was  assessed  annually 
on  every  country  community,  while  a  tariff  on  all  manu- 
factures imported  into  Sienese  territory  increased  the 
price  within  the  district  of  shoes,  clothing,  and  agricul- 
tural implements.  In  the  face  of  such  a  policy,  there 
can  be  left  room  in  no  one's  mind  for  doubt  touching 
the  reckless  exploitation  of  the  country  folk  whom  fate 
had  delivered  into  the  city's  hands.  The  sad  truth  is 
that  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  village  communities, 
which  in  the  previous  century  had  been  visibly  prosper- 
ing, were  slowly  sapped  of  their  vitality  and  the  villagers 
themselves  reduced  to  desperation.  A  recent  student  * 
is  right  when  he  describes  the  town  as  a  tree  fed  by  roots 
which  radiated  over  the  contado,  and  as  flourishing  by 
relentlessly  consuming  the  soil.  The  patent  inference 
is  that  although  the  tree  might  thrive  apparently  by 
systematically  exhausting  the  ground  which  nourished 
it,  in  the  long  run  it  only  prepared  its  own  de- 
struction. 

As  if  this  economic  policy,  built  on  false  assumptions 
and  inspired  by  the  sole  consideration  of  urban  neces- 
sities, were  not  enough  to  reduce  the  country  to  a  condi- 
tion of  profound  prostration,  a  veritable  rain  of  addi- 
tional afflictions  fell  upon  the  poor  peasantry.  We  are 
familiar  with  the  insecurity  of  life  and  property  pre- 
vailing in  the  feudal  age,  but  this  insecurity  was  not 
removed  by  the  victory  of  the  commune.  If  anything, 
the  fourteenth  century  makes  a  more  chaotic  impression 

*  Caggese,  Bull.  Sen.,  XIII,  p.  73. 


240  SIENA 

than  its  predecessor,  for  to  feudal  violence,  become  a 
confirmed  habit,  was  added  the  terrible  curse  of  the 
companies  of  adventure. 

If  we  would  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  disturbances 
to  which  country  life  was  exposed  during  the  Middle 
Age,  we  must  not  limit  our  view  to  the  private  feuds 
among  the  nobility  or  to  the  wars  between  the  nobility 
and  the  towns.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  feudal  habit  of 
putting  even  the  most  trifling  differences  to  the  decision 
of  the  sword  possessed  all  classes  of  society  alike,  and 
would  continue  to  possess  them  until  the  state  had 
acquired  sufficient  strength  to  enforce  respect  for  the 
slow  processes  of  law.  The  familiar  form  of  rural 
disturbance  was  indeed  associated  with  the  nobility, 
who  carried  on  vendettas  in  their  own  ranks,  or  plotted 
against  the  ambitious  commune,  or,  falling  on  some 
defenceless  abbot,  appropriated  his  lands;  but  other 
social  classes  or  political  entities,  as,  for  instance,  the 
village  communities,  occasionally  contributed  to  the 
confusion.  To  present  a  case  in  point,  the  little  borgo  of 
Castiglione,  in  that  lively  storm  centre,  the  Val  d'Orcia, 
looked  with  unconcealed  hatred  upon  the  monastery  of 
Vivo  because  of  a  dispute  about  the  use  of  certain 
meadows.  In  1328  the  Castiglionesi  to  the  number  of 
two  hundred  suddenly  fell  on  the  monastery,  raised  their 
banner  over  its  campanile,  pricked*  with  their  swords 
and  lances,  evidently  in  the  spirit  of  rude  horse-play, 
Frate  Ranieri,who  was  celebrating  the  Mass,  robbed  the 
furniture  and  cattle,  devastated  the  fields,  in  short, 

*  Ponteggiaverunt  is  the  excellent  word  of  the  original  declaration.  See 
Bull.  Sen.,  X,  p.  44.  Article  by  Bandi,  I  Castelli  della  Val  d'Orcia.  This 
article,  together  with  those  by  the  same  author  in  Vol.  IX,  gives  a  good  idea 
of  the  troublous  life  in  the  Sienese  wilds. 


THE   SIENESE  CONTADO  241 

conducted  themselves  in  a  manner  entirely  worthy  of 
their  aristocratic  exemplars. 

Public  opinion  rather  approved  than  condemned 
such  actions,  provided  they  were  carried  through 
with  boldness  and  success.  Grown-up  men,  much  like 
school-boys  of  our  own  time  romantically  excited  by 
tales  of  frontier  heroism,  even  entertained  an  open 
admiration  for  a  courageous  highwayman.  A  civil 
spirit,  like  Dante,  might  condemn  these  gentry,  "che 
fecero  alle  strade  tanta  guerra,"*  and  might  consign 
them  to  nameless  horrors  in  hell,  but  the  average  man, 
used  to  violence,  practising  it  himself,  made  light  of 
their  crimes.  One  of  the  worst  of  this  pestiferous  tribe, 
operating,  in  the  period  of  the  Nine,  in  the  Monte 
Amiata  region,  was  Ghino  di  Tacco.  What  Dante 
with  his  inflexible  standards  of  right  and  wrong  thought 
of  Ghino  and  his  likes  I  have  stated,  but  I  suspect  that 
not  Dante  but  Benvenuto  da  Imola,  one  of  the  poet's 
earliest  commentators,  reflects  the  true  contemporary 
sentiment  about  Ghino  when,  at  the  mention  of  his 
name,  he  bursts  into  nothing  less  than  lyric  encomium, 
calling  him  "vir  mirabilis,  magnus,  membrutus,  .  .  . 
fortissimus  .  .  .  prudens  et  largus."t  Although  Ghino, 
as  is  amusingly  confirmed  by  a  story  of  Boccacio,J  may 
have  been  a  gentlemanly  robber,  he  hardly  deserves 
an  epitaph  which  would  honor  the  shade  of  a  Miltiades 
or  a  George  Washington. 

l  Nevertheless  the  exploits  of  the  Castiglionesi  and  the 
violences  of  Ghino  di  Tacco  represent  minor  troubles  of 
the  contado  which  would  not  have  persisted  long,  if  they 

*  Inf.,  XII,  p.  138.  t  Bull.  Sen.,  X,  p.  37  (note), 

t  II  Decamerone,  Giornata  Decima,  II. 


242  SIENA 

had  not  flourished  under  the  shelter  of  the  turbulent 
conditions  created  by  the  perennial  wars  of  the  nobles 
among  themselves  and  with  Siena.  Of  these  wars  I 
have  already  said  enough  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  add, 
at  this  point,  more  than  a  few  details.  We  have  seen 
by  what  degrees,  and  owing  to  what  policy  on  the  part 
of  the  commune,  the  city  nobility  came,  at  least  in  large 
part,  into  possession  of  the  castles  of  the  original  feuda- 
tories. With  the  transfer  of  their  interests  from  the 
town  to  the  country  the  Tolomei  and  their  compeers, 
although  they  did  not  immediately  drop  their  mercantile 
connections,  began  to  assume  more  and  more  the  habits 
of  the  class  which  they  succeeded.  The  unfortunate 
fact  that,  from  the  year  1277  on>  tnev  were  tne  victims 
of  manifest  injustice  by  being  excluded  from  the  govern- 
ment of  their  native  city,  made  them  more  prone  than 
ever  to  plots  and  violence.  Their  exclusion,  it  may  be 
remembered,  was  the  consequence  of  the  Guelph- 
Ghibelline  feuds  among  them,  which  they  insisted  on 
fighting  out  in  the  streets,  regardless  of  the  security  of 
the  common  people  tranquilly  going  about  their  busi- 
ness. But  these  givers  and  takers  of  hard  blows  clashed 
not  only  in  the  city  but  also  in  the  country;  preferably, 
indeed,  in  the  country  because  there  they  were  much 
less  likely  to  be  interfered  with.  The  signal  victory  of 
the  Guelph  party  in  Siena,  as  well  as  in  all  Tuscany, 
should  logically  have  put  an  end  to  the  Guelph-Ghibel- 
line  animosities.  But  such  was  the  bitterness  of  faction 
and  the  devotion  to  the  spirit  of  vendetta  that  the  local 
noble  feuds  continued  to  shake  the  city  long  after  the  em- 
peror's power  was  broken.  Among  the  family  quarrels 
of  Siena  the  vicious  warfare  between  the  Tolomei  and 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  243 

the  Salimbeni  easily  overshadowed  all  the  rest.  The 
quarrel  of  these  great  houses  continued,  interrupted  by 
frequent  spectacular  reconciliations  emphasized  with 
false  oaths  before  the  altar,  throughout  the  period  of  the 
Nine,  to  be  replaced  in  its  turn  by  one  of  the  strangest 
wars  recorded  in  the  annals  of  a  free  community. 

In  narrating  the  overthrow  of  the  Nine  (1355)  I 
showed  that  the  Salimbeni  once  more  came  to  the  front 
politically,  owing,  in  part,  to  their  influence  with  the 
emperor,  Charles  IV,  and,  in  part,  to  their  alliance  with 
the  party  group  or  monte,  known  as  the  Dodicini. 
During  the  disturbed  period  that  followed,  they  suc- 
ceeded by  clever,  unscrupulous  tactics,  in  manoeuvring 
themselves  into  a  position  from  which  they  dominated 
the  state  almost  at  will.  They  had  long,  in  return  for 
money  lent  to  the  state,  enjoyed  the  possession  of  many 
castles — among  them  La  Ripa,  Vignone,  and  the  invalu- 
able Rocca  di  Tintinnano — and  in  the  year  1368,  for 
services  rendered  to  the  cause  of  the  people  during  that 
year,  received  in  reward  Castiglione  d'Orcia,  Mont* 
Orsaio,  and  other  places,  which,  added  to  their  earlier 
acquisitions,  made  them  unquestioned  masters  in  the 
Val  d'Orcia  and  throughout  the  southern  section  of  the 
contado.  Encouraged  to  defy  their  native  city  which 
thus  thoughtlessly  elevated  a  single  family  at  its  own  ex- 
pense, they  presently  entertained  the  ambition  of  raising 
their  possessions  into  an  independent  kingdom,  in  the  ul- 
terior hope,  it  was  openly  whispered,  of  acquiring  the 
hereditary  lordship  of  Siena  itself.  Such  a  project  the 
republic  had,  of  course,  to  repulse  with  vigor.  A  war 
ensued  between  Siena  and  its  leading  family,  which, 
punctuated  with  truces  and  dishonest  agreements, 


244  SIENA 

lasted  half  a  century.  Although  the  city  was  torn  with 
the  feuds  of  the  monti,  and  the  military  position  of  the 
rebellious  Salimbeni  along  the  steep  banks  of  the 
Orcia  was  almost  impregnable,  once  alive  to  the  issue, 
Siena  had  still  sufficient  resolution  left  to  fight  for  its 
life,  and,  in  the  end,  came  out  victorious.  Its  culminat- 
ing triumph,  the  capture  in  1418  of  the  Rocca  di 
Tintinnano  was  accomplished  by  treason,*  but  as  that 
was  a  weapon  of  warfare  familiar  to  both  sides,  we  have 
no  occasion  to  feel  that  the  city  by  the  use  of  such 
means  defiled  its  honor.  With  the  Salimbeni  decimated 
by  the  long  struggle  and  their  castles  once  more  in  the 
hands  of  the  government,  the  inordinately  extended 
reign  of  feudalism  in  the  wooded  Val  d'Orcia  was,  after 
a  struggle  of  three  centuries,  at  last  definitely  broken. 

To  the  reader,  now  sufficiently  familiar  with  the 
excesses  of  mediaeval  warfare,  there  is  no  need  of  ex- 
plaining how  the  long  Salimbeni  conflict  devastated  the 
Contemplating  "this  calamity  in  con- 


nection with  all  the  other  miseries  with  which  the  coun- 
try was  regularly  visited,  one  marvels  that  the  whole 
region  was  not  depopulated  by  a  unanimous  migration. 
Verily,  man  is  strong  to  endure,  and  the  love  of  home 
passes  understanding.  For  even  now  I  am  not  at  the 
end  of  my  narrative  of  the  afflictions  of  the  contado. 
Worse  in  its  sudden  fury  than  any  of  the  ills  yet  enume- 
rated, though  not  so  steadily  recurrent  as  some  of  them, 
was  the  curse  of  the  predatory  companies.  Throughout 
the  second  half  of  the  Jourteenth  century  this  evil  befell 
notonly  Siena  and  Tuscany,  but  alTItaiy.  That  a  ban  d 
of  assassins,  calliiigjthemselves  soldiers,  could,  under  an 

*  Malavolti,  Historia  di  Siena,  ad  annum  1418. 


THE   SIENESE  CONTADO  245 

audacious  leader,  march  up  and  dowr^jhe  peninsula, 

rnntrJKim-i  rmrm 


is  an  eloquent  comment  on  the  helplessness  of  the  Italian 
governments.  "Perpetual  rivalries  among  neighbors 
added  _tojthe^  eternal  domestic  strife  had  so  paralyzed 
the  national  will  that  it  proved  incapable  of  destroying 
a  thieving  pack  oFwolves,  the  enemies  of  everybody. 

The  origin  of  the  companies  of  adventure  is  to  be 
found  in  the  ^vil  custom  of  the  Italian_j»tates  of  the 
fourteenth  century  of  doing  tEeir  fightingjipt_with_the 
JocaF  militias  but  with  mercenarjes.,  usually  from  beyond 
the_  Alps  —  Germans,  Frenchmen,  Hunganans,-_amf 
Einglish*,  The  n^[nn£l_aTrny_nf  .Siena,  create^  in  thg 
consular  ej^a^jtilL  pyisted  and  was  prrasinnally  ralk^ 
out  for  service^but,  as  a  sort  of  parliament  of  the  people, 
it  was  distrusted  by  the  ruling  clique,  and,  furthermore, 
inlKe  matter  of  efficiency  could  not  match  itself  with  a 
corps  of  trained,  professional  soldiers.  That  these  mer- 
cenaries, on  being  dismissed  at  the  termination  of  a 
war  for  which  they  had  been  engaged,  should  have 
bethought  themselves  to  take  advantage  of  the  impotent 
but  wealthy  governments  of  Italy,  is  not  strange.* 
The  initial  act  of  audacity,  as  far  as  Siena  is  concerned, 
was  committed  by  a  German  leader,  Werner  von 
Urslingen,  when,  in  1342,  the  republic  of  Pisa  cancelled 
his  engagement.  He  avowed  with  the  frankness  and 
emphatic  rhetoric  characteristic  of  his  craft,  his  free- 
booter's point  of  view  by  the  inscription  on  his  breast- 
plate: Enemy  of  God,  of  Pity,  and  of  Mercy.  Such 
men  can  be  tamed  only  with  cold  steel.  Siena  —  it  was 
the  time  of  the  Nine  —  offered  him  money,  some  twenty- 

*  Professione,  Siena  e  le  Compagnie  di  Ventura. 


246  SIENA 

five  hundred  florins,  with  the  request  to  go  away  and 
cease  from  further  troubling  honest  folk.*  Equally 
successful  throughout  Tuscany,  Werner  made  his  way 
northward  and  crossed  the  Alps,  trailing  behind  him 
an  immense  booty. 

Such  success  was  sure  to  create  imitators.  Hardly 
ten  years  had  passed,  when  the  company  of  a  Provencal, 
called  Fra  Moriale,  descended  on  the  Sienese  and 
plundered  at  will,  pending  the  agreement  concerning  their 
gratuity  (1354).  The  Nine  bought  poison — no  less,  we 
hear,  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  pounds  of  it! — to 
mix  in  the  enemy's  food,  which  ingenious  substitute  for 
fighting  failing  in  its  effect,  they  weakly  paid  their  tor- 
mentors a  large  sum  of  gold  florins.f  Money  again, 
food  also — everything  except  forged  iron,  the  only  coin 
of  courage!  And  now  the  gates  were  open,  and  the 
floods  devastated  Tuscany  with  .unchecked  fury.  We 
hear  of  the  company  of  Count  Lando,  of  that  of  Anichi- 
no,  of  the  White  Company,  the  Company  of  the  Hat, 
the  Company  of  the  Star,  of  a  succession  of  mercenary 
hosts  with  each  one  of  which  is  associated  a  monotonous 
tale  of  murder,  rapine,  and  conflagration.  For  more 
than  a  generation  this  pest  afflicted  the  Sienese  state, 
sometimes  raging  once  every  few  years,  occasionally 
several  times  in  one  year.  And  the  Sienese,  cringing 
behind  their  impregnable  walls,  always  paid,  always, 
with  one  exception,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  leader — it 
was  the  captain  of  the  Breton  Company  of  the  Hat — 
did  not  want  money  but  territory.  At  the  end  of  his 
patience  and  against  the  express  orders  of  the  Signori 

*  Muratori,  XV,  "  Cronica  Sanese,"  105,  E. 
t  Muratori,  XV,  "Cronica  Sanese,"  141,  D. 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  247 

Dodici,  the  Sienese  general,  one  of  the  Roman  Orsini, 
fell  upon  the  Bretons  and  signally  defeated  them  (1363). 
It  was  an  isolated  act  of  manhood  without  further  effect; 
for,  eight  months  later,  behold,  in  place  of  the  Company 
of  the  Hat,  the  Company  of  the  Star,  which  made  itself 
at  home  in  the  country  until  persuaded  to  depart  with 
a  bribe  of  over  fifty  thousand  fiorini  d'oro.*  But  even 
that  huge  sum  was  small  compared  with  the  money  paid 
out  to  the  famous  commander,  John  Hawkwood,  an 
Englishman,  reputed  to  have  laid  his  long  fingers  during 
his  career  on  several  hundred  thousand  florins  of  the 
Sienese  exchequer.  What  wonder  that  Siena  was 
reduced  to  terrible  financial  straits,  made  reckless  loans, 
and  put  the  tax  screws  on  the  subject  population! 
Selfish  as  the  burghers  were,  and  cowardly  as  their 
behavior  toward  the  blackguard  scum  of  Europe  looks 
to  our  eyes,  they  were  neither  without  pity  for  the  cruel 
harrying  suffered  by  the  undefended  peasants,  nor  with- 
out the  desire  to  save  them  from  excessive  taxes.  But 
what  could  they  do,  themselves  the  victims  of  hard 
necessity  ? 

Marshalling  all  these  facts  concerning  the  contado  we 
are  obliged  to  agree  that  Siena  did  not  always  deal 
righteously  with  her  dependent  territory  nor  prove  her- 
self the  mother  of  bounty  and  felicity.  It  would  almost 
seem  that  the  town  set  itself  a  larger  task  than  it  could 
master.  That  task,  historically  stated,  was  to  uproot 

*  The  impression  of  pusillanimity  made  by  the  Dodici  is  completed  when 
we  read :  "  And  the  Sienese  sent " — in  addition,  be  it  observed,  to  the  money — 
"to  Misser  Anechino,  Captain  of  the  said  Company,  beautiful  and  rich 
presents,  to  wit,  a  magnificent  horse  with  hangings,  and  much  wax  and 
sweets" — of  which  the  Middle  Age  was  very  fond — "and  well-aged  wine, 
and  corn  and  other  things."  Chronicle  of  Neri  di  Donate,  Muratori, 
XV,  183,  E. 


248  SIENA 

feudalism  and  to  extend  to  the  country  all  the  benefits 
of  the  new  civilization  which  the  free  communes  had 
evolved.  Some  towns,  like  Florence,  succeeded  in  this 
mission  with  comparative  ease.  Siena,  because  it  com- 
manded fewer  resources  than  Florence,  and  because  its 
feudal  adversaries  were  more  numerous,  more  powerful, 
and  better  protected  by  natural  defenses  than  those  of 
the  Arno  city,  did  not  bring  the  struggle  to  a  close  till  the 
fifteenth  century.  As  an  additional  circumstance, 
retarding  the  overthrow  of  the  feudal  agents,  must  not 
be  forgotten  the  necessity,  under  which  Siena  was,  of 
dividing  her  forces  by  defending  herself  against  ambi- 
tious and  encroaching  city  neighbors.  If  Siena  had 
been  an  island  unthreatened  by  a  foreign  foe,  we  can 
hardly  doubt  that  feudalism  would  not  have  remained 
ensconced  for  long  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  hills,  however 
inaccessible  they  may  have  been.  But  in  spite  of  all 
difficulties,  in  spite  of  the  grinding  of  the  peasants  under 
excessive  taxes,  in  spite  of  the  rise  of  a  second  giant 
brood  of  feudalism  after  the  first  had  been  laid  low,  in 
spite  of  the  harrying  of  the  fields  by  the  companies  of 
adventure,  early  in  the  fifteenth  century  the  city's  purpose 
was,  in  the  main,  attained  and  the  country  fused  with 
it  under  a  government  which,  however  imperfectly 
democratic,  was  none  the  less  an  immense  advance  over 
the  political  and  social  system  designated  by  the  name 
of  feudalism. 

For  this  reason  we  may  call  the  period  from  the  first 
vernal  budding  of  communal  freedom  to  the  completed 
conquest  of  the  countryside  the  heroic  period  of  Siena, 
and  single  it  out  of  the  long  life  of  the  town  for  special 
study.  Compared  with  it,  the  periods  which  followed 


THE   SIENESE   CONTADO  249 

were,  as  far  as  their  political  history  is  concerned,  un- 
steady, bewildering,  and  even  meaningless.  Certainly 
they  do  not  sound  the  clear,  high  note  which  we  detect 
wherever  life  is  hopeful  and  society  adorns  itself  daily 
with  some  new  work  of  civilization.  The  organizing 
and  constructive  activity  of  Siena,  taken  at  least  in  any 
large  sense,  came  to  an  end  with  the  beginning  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  Henceforth  we  look  in  vain  for  any 
essentially  new  germs.  As  soon  as  the  communes  of 
Tuscany  had  conquered  their  respective  contados,  the 
next  step  in  the  political  evolution  plainly  was  the 
fusion  of  the  communes  into  a  provincial  unity; 
Tuscany,  Lombardy,  Umbria  and  the  rest,  once 
unified,  might  then  have  proceeded  to  constitute  the 
larger  unity  of  the  Italian  nation.  But  this  indispensa- 
ble work  the  communes  proved  themselves  incapable  of 
carrying  to  a  successful  issue.  We  have  heard  some- 
thing of  their  rivalries  and  hatreds  and  have  received 
a  lively  impression  of  the  persistence  of  the  stupid 
prejudices  which  divided  them.  The  upshot  of  fruitless 
quarrelling  was  that  the  communes  were  driven  into  a 
blind  alley  and  like  every  man  or  society  without  a  clear 
purpose,  presently  began,  in  varying  degree,  to  stagnate; 
which  process,  long  resisted  by  the  splendid  vigor  and 
elasticity  of  the  Italian  mind,  engaged  just  then  in 
culling  the  fruits  of  the  Renaissance,  gradually  but 
ineluctably  paralyzed  the  multifold  energies  of  the 
peninsula.  Italy,  cursed  with  political  impotence,  was 
a  doomed  land.  A  chapter  of  that  doom,  to  which  I 
shall  return,  is  entitled  the  Twilight  of  Siena. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  RELIGIOUS  SPIRIT  AND  SAINT  CATHERINE 

IN  an  earlier  chapter  I  took  occasion  to  show  that 
the  official  church,  though  an  intensely  popular 
and  a  by  no  means  inelastic  institution,  was  not 
always  able  to  satisfy  the  extraordinary  religious  passion 
of  the  Middle  Age.  Whenever  this  passion  inflamed 
large  groups  of  men  and  women  to  devote  themselves 
to  the  quiet  contemplation  of  the  goodness  of  God  or 
to  the  active  service  of  the  sick  and  outcast,  the  church 
had  no  great  difficulty  in  retaining  the  allegiance  of  her 
over-zealous  subjects  by  organizing  them  in  monastic 
societies.  As  outlets  provided  to  relieve  the  periodically 
mounting  floods  of  fervor,  the  companies  of  monks, 
nuns,  and  friars  rendered  an  incalculable  service  to 
established  religion.  But  time  and  again  the  waters 
burst  all  bounds,  and  the  church,  a  majestic  edifice  with 
far-flung  buttresses  of  stone,  suddenly  found  itself 
enveloped  by  a  raging  stream,  while  the  agitated  occu- 
pants sustained  their  spirits  with  the  knowledge  that 
such  violent  crises  had  occurred  before,  without  further 
consequences  than  the  deposit  of  a  heap  of  unsightly 
wreckage  along  the  track  of  the  torrent.  A  common 
enough  spectacle  throughout  the  whole  Middle  Age  it 
was  to  see  bands  of  excited  seekers  of  salvation  infest 
the  highways  of  the  land,  lacerating  their  flesh  with 
brandished  thongs,  singing  lauds  or  chanting  dirges, 

250 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  251 

according  to  their  mood,  and  summoning  the  world  to 
repentance.  Let  him  who  has  any  curiosity  on  this 
subject  turn  to  that  most  direct  and  communicative  of 
all  mediaeval  documents,  the  chronicle  of  Brother  Salim- 
bene. What  a  record  of  processions,  extravagances, 
miracles,  and  pious  frauds,  constituting,  in  the  eyes  of 
the  average  modern  reader,  a  chapter  of  unmixed  mid- 
summer madness!  Salimbene  was  a  boy  of  twelve, 
residing  in  his  native  Parma,  when  a  revival  struck 
northern  Italy  with  the  vehemence  of  an  earthquake. 
Peasants  left  their  ploughs  to  listen  to  song  and  sermon, 
burghers  folded  their  ledgers  and  proclaimed  a  truce  to 
party  fury,  nobles,  divided  by  inherited  feuds,  embraced 
amidst  tears;  for,  says  Salimbene,  "no  wrath  was  left 
among  them,  no  trouble  or  hatred;  they  had  drunk  of 
the  wine  of  the  sweetness  of  God's  spirit,  whereof  if  a 
man  drink,  flesh  hath  no  more  savor  for  him."*  Men 
called  this  revival,  conducted  apparently  on  an  unprece- 
dented scale,  the  Alleluia,  and  during  the  few  weeks 
of  the  year  1233,  while  it  lasted,  it  made  our  sordid  earth 
seem  a  thing  radiant  and  immaterial  in  the  eyes  of 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  human  beings. 

Such  elemental  movements  can  only  be  explained  on 
the  ground  that  the  mediaeval  period  conceded  to  religion 
a  larger  share  in  life  than  our  time  is  inclined  to  do. 
On  account  of  this  unchecked  indulgence  in  religious 
emotion  we  frequently  designate  the  departed  centuries 
as  the  Age  of  Faith,  and  a  group  of  romanticists  among 
us  never  ceases  to  regret  that  our  scientific  pursuits  have 
provided  us  with  a  set  of  inhibitions  which  lay  a  crushing 
burden  on  enthusiasm.  These  fond  dreamers  very 

*  Coulton,  "From  Saint  Francis  to  Dante,"  p.  21. 


252  SIENA 

generally  owe  their  views  to  a  deliberate  concentration 
of  attention  upon  a  single  aspect  of  mediaeval  Christian- 
ity. They  see  the  sublime  self-oblivion,  induced  by  a 
surrender  of  the  individual  to  the  will  of  God,  but  they 
do  not  see,  or,  having  seen,  wilfully  ignore  those  many 
sinister  phenomena  which,  though  by  no  means  an 
essential  part  of  Christianity,  are  none  the  less  associated 
with  the  mediaeval  practice  of  religion  and  with  its  ready 
exaltation  of  passion  over  reason.  The  revolting 
cruelty  of  the  time,  for  instance — where  is  its  ultimate 
root  to  be  found  but  in  the  habit  of  yielding  to  every 
impulse,  noble  or  ignoble  ?  Leaving  entirely  out  of  con- 
sideration the  horrors  practised  under  the  name  of  war- 
fare, we  are  aware  that  monstrous  excesses,  closely 
resembling  those  of  the  battlefield,  were  common  occur- 
rences in  the  domestic  life  of  every  Italian  community. 
Let  the  reader  recall  such  an  act  as  that  of  the  year  1371, 
when  the  Dodicini  and  their  friends,  the  Salimbeni, 
wantonly  exterminated  the  poor  wool-carders  of  the 
Compagnia  del  Bruco.*  Or  let  him  weigh  the  signifi- 
cance of  such  a  cold  item  as  the  following  in  an  inventory 
of  public  property  taken  in  the  fifteenth  century:  "a 
knife  for  quartering  men  at  the  window  of  the  Martin- 
ella"  that  is,  at  a  window  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico 
where  all  the  town  could  participate  in  the  awful 
mutilation  perpetrated  under  the  name  of  justice;  and 
further,  "  two  pairs  of  pincers  for  tearing  the  flesh  from 
men  at  the  said  window  "~\  It  would  not  be  difficult  to 
collect  evidence  on  this  point  filling  many  volumes. 
The  nameless  sufferings  of  Dante's  Inferno,  far  from 

*  Chapter  7,  p.  223. 

t  Paoli,  "  Libro  di  Montaperti,"  p.  XLIIII,  (note). 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  253 

being  a  pure  invention  of  the  poet,  were  only  too  often 
the  truthful  transcript  of  an  experienced  horror  which 
had  seared  itself  upon  his  memory.  Is  there  anything 
even  in  Dante  more  blood-curdling  than  the  following 
trait  reported  of  Ezzelino,  lord  of  Treviso:  "On  a 
certain  day  he  caused  11,000  men  of  Padua  to  be  burnt 
in  the  field  of  St.  George  in  the  city  of  Verona;  and 
when  fire  was  set  to  the  place  in  which  they  were  con- 
fined, he  jousted  around  them  with  his  knights  as  if  in 
sport."*  Dante  belonged  to  the  next  generation  after 
Ezzelino,  but  often  in  his  youth  must  have  heard  old 
men  recount  this  and  a  score  of  similar  tales  about  the 
unbridled  despot. 

But  let  us  guard  against  too  strong  an  emphasis  of 
this  aspect  of  the  time — a  proceeding  which  would  be 
quite  as  reprehensible  as  the  practice  of  the  romanticists 
of  viewing  the  past  exclusively  in  the  rosy  light  shed 
by  some  unreflecting  act  of  love  and  sacrifice.  Let  us 
rather  be  content  to  observe  that  the  sharp  contrasts 
existed  everywhere — acts  of  burning  devotion  flourish- 
ing by  the  side  of  senseless  deeds  of  violence — and  that 
these  contrasts  are  not  only  a  memorable  characteristic 
of  the  age  but  an  inevitable  consequence  of  its  peculiar 
evaluation  of  the  elements  of  conduct.  The  mediaeval 
period  consistently  magnified  the  emotions  at  the  ex- 
pense of  reason  which  it  belittled  and  decried.  The 
Nothing  Too  Much  of  ancient  philosophy,  extolling  a 
perfect  equilibrium  of  all  the  human  faculties,  was  an 

*  Coulton,  "From  St.  Francis  to  Dante,"  p.  115.  Many  authorities  report 
the  eating  of  human  flesh  by  enraged  adversaries.  See  Villani,  "  Cronica," 
XII,  17.  "Ed  ebbonvi  de'  si  crudeli,  e  con  furia  si  bestiale  .  .  .  che 
mangiarono  delle  loro  carni  crude."  The  author  is  speaking  of  the  uprising 
of  1343- 


254  SIENA 

abomination  to  a  society  which  set  above  all  else  the 
primal  satisfaction  of  the  quickened  pulse-beat,  whether 
of  love  or  hate.  In  this  passion  for  excess,  crystallized 
into  a  code  of  conduct,  most  of  the  social  phenomena 
which  fill  our  sober  minds  with  amazement  at  the 
vanished  past  have  their  philosophic  explanation. 

If  such  a  revival  as  the  Alleluia  of  the  year  1233 
attracts  our  attention  by  reason  of  its  magnitude  and 
universality,  other  movements  of  lesser  scope,  avoiding 
the  mobilization  of  great  masses  and  aiming  at  some 
definite  reform  of  society  and  the  individual,  achieved 
far  more  permanent  results.  Of  these  local  actions, 
associated  usually  with  the  name  of  some  visionary,  not 
a  town  of  Tuscany  is  so  poor  as  not  to  boast  a  long 
succession;  and  of  all  the  Tuscan  towns  none  might 
venture  to  compare  itself,  in  respect  of  prophets  and 
religious  leaders,  with  Siena.  Doubtless  the  imagina- 
tive temper  of  the  Sienese,  coupled  with  their  half- 
pagan  sense  of  the  perpetual  nearness  of  celestial 
agents,  rendered  them  peculiarly  responsive  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Roman  Christianity.  How  else  account  for  the 
long  list  of  native  sons  and  daughters  who,  to  the  admira- 
tion of  a  greater  or  lesser  following,  stirred  the  potent 
sentiments  associated  in  the  mediaeval  mind  with  God's 
wrath  and  man's  depravity  ?  In  the  days  of  Dante  we 
hear  of  a  certain  Peter  who  traded  in  combs  (pettini} 
and  therefore  went  by  the  name  of  Pier  Pettignano. 
His  fame  for  holiness  had  gone  abroad,  for  the  Floren- 
tine poet  declares  that  Peter's  intercession  saved  from 
worse  punishment  the  blinded  Sapia  who  spoke  the 
awful  blasphemy.*  The  pious  comb-seller  was  deeply 

*  Dante,   "Purgatorio,"   XIII,    106 /. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  255 

venerated  by  his  countrymen,  and  when,  in  the  year 
1289,  he  died,  almost  a  hundred  years  old,  the  republic 
declared  him  holy,  and  supported  its  conviction  by 
voting  him  a  monument  at  public  expense — unum 
sepulcrum  nobile.*  Scant  as  this  material  is,  we  know 
even  less  of  the  Dominican  friar,  Ambrogio,  who  seems 
to  have  been  a  member  of  the  noble  house  of  the 
Sansedoni.  He  was  a  contemporary  of  Pier  Pettignano, 
and,  not  long  after  he  died  in  the  year  1287,  was 
canonized  by  the  church.  From  the  circumstance  that 
he  long  continued  to  be  worshipped  at  many  Sienese 
altars,  we  must  conclude  that  he  made  a  considerable 
impression  in  his  day.f 

With  the  coming  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  veil 
lifts,  giving  us  a  much  clearer  view  of  the  holy  men  and 
women  of  Siena  as  they  went  about  their  chosen  work 
of  salvation.  The  Blessed  Bernardo  Tolomei  (b.  1272) 
— of  the  noble  family  of  that  name — wonderfully  com- 
bined the  two  Christian  ideals  of  contemplation  and 
service.  A  strain  of  asceticism  drove  him  into  the  bare 
chalk  hills  to  the  east  of  Siena,  where  with  steady  labor 
he  made  a  little  garden-spot,  and  called  it  Monte 
Oliveto.  He  lived  to  found  an  order — the  Olivetans— 
organized  under  the  rule  of  Saint  Benedict;  but  for 
all  his  joy  in  his  pleasant  retirement  Bernardo  did  not 
refuse  to  help  his  countrymen  in  a  great  crisis.  When 
the  plague  of  1348  devastated  Siena,  he  left  his  quiet 
hills  and  met  his  death  heroically  while  attending  the 
poor  victims  of  that  awful  visitation.  |  Another  founder 


*  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  IV,  p.  42.  f  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  IV,  p.  164. 

t  On  the  Blessed  Bernardo  Tolomei  see  a  series  of  articles  by  P.  Lugano, 
'Bull.  Sen.,"  IX-X. 


256  SIENA 

of  an  order  was  the  Blessed  Giovanni  Colombini 
(1304?- 1 367)  with  whom  originated  the  Poveri  Gesuati. 
Of  him  it  is  reported  that  he  was  a  merchant  of  great 
means,  when,  as  he  was  verging  on  old  age,  illumination 
descended  on  him  like  a  dove  from  heaven.  Straight- 
way he  divested  himself  of  his  wealth — chiefly,  like  a 
good  Sienese,  in  favor  of  the  hospital  of  the  Scala — 
espoused  the  Lady  Poverty,  and  wandered  through  the 
streets  and  lanes  perpetually  praising  God.  Some  of 
the  lauds  which  he  and  his  followers  sang  have  come 
down  to  us  under  the  name  of  rime  spiritual!  and  are, 
if  monotonous  in  matter,  still  tremulous  with  the  joy 
of  the  convert.*  But  more  celebrated  than  any  of  the 
aforementioned,  second  only  among  Italian  saints  to 
Saint  Francis,  are  Saint  Catherine  and  San  Bernardino. 
Of  the  latter,  as  belonging  to  a  relatively  late  period, 
I  shall  speak  briefly  in  another  placejf  before  taking 
up  the  life  of  her,  who  marks  the  culmination  of  Chris- 
tianity within  the  bounds  of  Sienese  influence,  I  may 
be  permitted  to  call  attention  to  the  reverse  of  the  medal 
and  to  speak  of  the  occasional  appearance  in  the  city 
of  heretical  views  and  sects. 

Though  Siena  was  profoundly  religious  and  affirmed 
her  fidelity  to  the  church  by  adding  numerous  names 
to  the  roster  of  saints,  no  less  than  every  other  city  of 
Tuscany,  she  was  guilty  of  certain  irregularities  of 
thought  and  practice  defined  as  heretical.  In  this 
connection  it  is  well  to  recall  that  our  precise  modern 
idea,  that  heresy  consists  in  formulating  and  defending 
an  unorthodox  theological  opinion,  must  be  revised  for 

*  "Bull.  Sen.,"  II,  iff,  discusses  his  life,  and  on  p.  47  gives  one  of  his 
lauds.  t  Chapter  14. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  257 

mediaeval  times  in  view  of  the  custom  of  throwing 
alchemists,  epicureans,  astrologers,  and  wizards  into 
a  common  class  with  the  religious  innovators.  Such 
summary  procedure  saved  thought  on  the  part  of  the 
authorities,  and,  further,  may  have  recommended  itself 
as  an  easy  way  of  periodically  purging  society  of  its 
restless  and  dangerous  elements  under  the  pretense  of 
defending  the  imperilled  church.  True,  belief  in  love 
draughts,  in  the  influence  of  the  stars,  of  the  possibility 
of  transmuting  baser  metals  into  gold,  was  general,* 
for  the  age  was  one  of  extraordinary  superstition,  but  a 
revulsion,  due  to  religious  fear,  was  certain  to  follow 
sooner  or  later,  and  then  the  thaumaturgists,  represent- 
ing a  strange  mixture  of  charlatanism  and  honest  zeal 
for  knowledge,  paid  for  their  brief  popularity  with  their 
lives.  A  typical  case  is  that  of  Capocchio  of  Siena, 
who  aroused  the  suspicion  of  the  authorities  in  conse- 
quence of  his  devotion  to  the  primitive  science  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  perished  at  the  stake,  f 

But  much  more  interesting  than  the  misled  and  mis- 
named scientists  who  might  from  time  to  time  fall 
under  the  imputation  of  heresy  are  the  representa- 
tives of  movements  consciously  religious  in  character 
and  openly  or  secretly  directed  against  the  church. 
The  student  of  the  Middle  Age,  who  knows  that 
great  concerted  agitations  repeatedly  threatened  the 
ascendency  of  Rome,  will  not  be  surprised  to 


*  On  this  subject  of  superstition  see  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  I,  124.  The 
government  officially  employed  wizards,  prophets,  and  exercisers.  On  the 
opening  of  a  campaign  with  Florence  it  was  a  common  practice  to  hire  a 
magician  for  the  purpose  of  having  him  concoct  a  powder  to  scatter  among 
the  enemy! 

t  Dante  met  Capocchio  in  hell,  "Inferno,"  XXIX,  133 /. 


258  SIENA 

hear  that  almost  all  of  them  could  claim  a  follow- 
ing in  Siena.  The  Manicheans,  and  after  them  the 
Paterini,  who  bore  a  certain  inner  resemblance  to 
the  Manicheans,  had  a  strong  following  in  southern 
Tuscany  throughout  the  early  Middle  Age,*  while  in 
the  thirteenth  century  we  hear  of  Sienese  supporters  of 
the  thrice  cursed  Albigensian  heresy,  and  in  the  four- 
teenth of  a  group  of  Franciscan  rebels  against  Rome 
called  Fraticelli.f  These  various  sects  did  not  by  any 
means  occupy  the  same  theological  ground,  but  they 
were  all  agreed  in  their  opposition  to  the  dominant 
church.  Therefore  the  bishop  of  Siena,  supported 
from  the  thirteenth  century  on  by  the  new  and  famous 
institution  of  the  Inquisition,  was  obliged  to  exercise 
constant  vigilance.  The  Inquisition  differed  from  the 
old  episcopal  supervision  in  matters  of  faith  in  that  it 
was  centrally  operated  from  Rome,  chiefly  through 
the  agency  of  the  Dominican  order,  and  that  it  pro- 
ceeded in  accordance  with  much  more  rigid  principles. 
Bishop  and  Inquisition  alike  enjoyed,  though  with 
varying  fervor,  the  cooperation  of  the  Sienese  state, 
and  from  the  earliest  constitution  which  has  reached  us, 
the  Constitution  of  1262,  we  may  learn  that  the  state, 
anxious  to  avoid  the  censure  of  the  church,  legislated 
with  the  utmost  severity  against  heretici  et  pactareni.% 
Catherine  Benincasa,  the  most  fragrant  and  ex- 
quisite representative  of  Sienese  Christianity  during  the 

*  Davidsohn,  "Geschichte  von  Florenz,"  I,  721  ff.,  II],  pp.  302-4, 
presents  a  careful  review  of  the  Paterini  in  Florence  and  Tuscany. 

t  For  the  edict  against  them  see  Cappelletti,  "Storia  delle  Chiese  d'ltalia," 
XVII,  p.  484.  On  the  general  subject  of  heresy  consult  Tocco,  "L'Eresia  nel 
Medio  Evo,"  Florence,  1884. 

J  Zdekauer,  "II  Constituto  di  1262,"  I,  118.  The  legislation  on  heresy 
tended  to  become  more  and  more  rigorous,  as  may  be  seen  by  consult- 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  259 

whole  Middle  Age,  was  born  on  March  25,  1347.  Her 
father,  Jacopo  Benincasa,  a  dyer  by  profession,  con- 
ducted his  business  on  the  steep  slopes  of  the  street 
which  led  down  to  one  of  the  famous  fountains  of  the 
city,  the  Fonte  Branda.  Jacopo  and  his  wife  Lapa 
were  honest  working  people,  poor  in  everything  except 
in  offspring,  for  Catherine — not  the  smallest  marvel  in  a 
marvellous  career — was,  according  to  her  biographer, 
Fra  Raimondo,  the  next  to  the  last  in  a  succession  of 
twenty-five  children,  who  singly  or  in  pairs  came  to 
make  their  home  under  the  dyer's  roof.  The  Benincasa 
house  still  stands,  provided  in  the  sixteenth  century 
with  a  beautiful  loggia  both  in  the  front  and  in  the  rear, 
and  otherwise  altered  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a 
sacred  museum,  but  the  essential  changes  are  slight, 
and  the  immediate  environment  bears  to  this  day  much 
the  same  aspect  which  marked  it  in  the  time  of  the 
saint's  youth.  Here  the  working  people  continue  to 
make  their  home;  the  street,  too  precipitous  for  even 
the  lightest  vehicles,  swarms  with  riotous  children, 
swarthy  with  the  wind  and  sun;  and  the  air  is  full  of 
the  pungent,  not  unpleasant  odor  rising  from  the  vats, 
around  which  the  tanners  ply  their  immemorial  trade. 
Over  the  dusty  flags  the  baby  Catherine  must  have 
rolled,  watched  by  the  busy  Lapa  out  of  the  corner  of  her 
eye;  like  the  urchins  of  our  day,  she  must  have  toddled 
down  to  Fonte  Branda,  where  the  press  of  men  and 


ing  "II  Constitute  di  1309-10  with  regard  to  its  heretical  provisions."  The 
ecclesiastical  ideal  in  the  matter  of  persecution  was  represented  by  the 
hideous  laws  promulgated  in  the  years  1232  and  1238  by  Frederick  II,  in 
order  to  curry  favor  with  the  church.  Monumenta  Ger.,  Leges  II,  p.  286, 
p.  326.  Whenever  Siena  or  another  commune  wished  to  stand  well  with  the 
pope,  it  made  a  show  of  incorporating  these  laws  in  its  statutes. 


260  SIENA 

women,  come  to  draw  water  for  the  house  and  shop, 
provided  a  never-failing  spectacle;  and  perhaps  her 
first  adventure  was  to  scramble  up  the  steep  hill  flanking 
the  ancient  fountain,  in  order  to  have  a  peep  into  the 
cool  interior  of  the  great  church  of  San  Domenico, 
which  reared  its  transept  almost  vertically  above  her 
father's  roof.* 

The  church  of  Sari  Domenico,  perpetually  in  view  on 
its  high  eminence,  was  destined  to  play  a  directing  role 
in  Catherine's  career.  The  good  brothers  of  the 
monastery,  who  came  sometimes  to  visit  her  parents, 
were  struck  with  the  self-contained  manner  of  the 
child,  and  gladly  undertook  her  spiritual  guidance. 
Without  believing  to  the  letter  all  the  miraculous  things 
reported  of  the  youthful  Catherine,  we  may  rest  assured 
that  she  had  a  strong  religious  bent  from  her  birth, 
which,  being  carefully  nursed  by  her  Dominican  friends, 
presently  took  the  form  of  an  overpowering  enthusiasm 
for  the  life  of  a  Christian  ascetic.  In  spite  of  the 
remonstrances  of  her  family,  in  the  year  1362,  when  she 
was  only  fifteen  years  old,  she  joined  the  Order  of 


*  The  literature  on  Saint  Catherine  is  rapidly  assuming  vast  proportions. 
For  a  good  review  of  the  sources  see  the  Bibliography  appended  to  Gardner, 
"Saint  Catherine  of  Siena."  The  original  life,  called  the  Legend,  which  has 
principally  supplied  later  writers  with  their  facts,  was  written  in  Latin  by 
Catherine's  confessor,  Fra  Raimondo  of  Capua.  Far  and  away  the  most 
important  source  for  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  saint  are  her  Letters. 
If  all  the  material  furnished  by  the  hagiographers  were  lost  and  these  unique 
epistles  spared,  her  historical  portrait  would  not  suffer  the  loss  of  a  single 
significant  trait.  Of  the  several  editions,  I  have  used  the  edition  of  Gigli, 
reprinted  in  1842  at  Milan.  Her  complete  works,  including  the  "Dialogo" 
and  Fra  Raimondo's  "Life "(in  Italian),  were  published  by  her  devoted  ad- 
mirer, Girolamo  Gigli,  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Of  recent  works,  the 
most  important  are  Drane,  "The  History  of  St.  Catherine";  Capecelatro, 
"Storia  di  S.  Caterina  da  Siena";  Scudder,  "Saint  Catherine  of  Siena  as  Seen 
in  Her  Letters";  and  Gardner,  "Saint  Catherine  of  Siena." 


Detail — Guidoricc  o  da  Fogliano.   By  Simone  Martini  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico) 

Detail  from  the  Allegory  of  Good  Government. 
By  Ambrogio  Lorenzctti  (in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico) 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  261 

Penance  of  Saint  Dominic,  the  saint  of  her  particular 
devotion,  and  became  what  the  Sienese  called  a  Mantel- 
lata.  The  Order  of  Penance  was  a  lay  order,  embracing 
both  sexes  and  planned  to  supplement  the  work  of  the 
Dominican  friars,  but  its  members  wore  religious  dress 
and  dedicated  themselves,  as  far  as  their  secular  condi- 
tion permitted,  to  the  duties  of  their  faith.  On  assum- 
ing the  mantle  Catherine  continued  to  dwell  at  home, 
where  she  converted  her  room  into  a  cell,  and  gave  her- 
self wholly  to  the  contemplation  of  the  mysteries  of 
Christianity.  For  years  she  led  a  life  of  strictest 
confinement,  abandoning  her  solitary  retreat  only  to 
attend  mass  and  receive  the  eucharist  in  the  church  of 
her  order,  which  had  come  to  stand  in  her  exalted  mind 
for  the  promise  and  glory  of  the  cross. 

A  pure  and  simple-minded  girl,  burning  out  her 
life  like  a  taper  before  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord — that 
is  all  there  might  have  been  to  the  uneventful  history 
of  the  maid  Catherine,  if,  in  addition  to  her  love  of  God 
and  yearning  for  heaven,  she  had  not  also  felt  the  pas- 
sion to  serve  mankind.  This  is  a  fundamental  trait 
of  her  character,  giving  her  life  a  human  zest  generally 
lacking  in  the  pallid  ranks  of  the  brotherhood  of 
mediaeval  saints.  For  a  brief  period  in  her  zealous 
youth  she  may  indeed  have  sealed  her  senses  to  the 
sights  and  sounds  of  the  world,  but  she  was  too  utterly 
human  to  persist  long  in  so  narrow  a  course.  The  fact 
is,  the  world  rang  like  a  trumpet  in  her  ears  and  gave 
her  no  rest.  The  miseries  of  her  age  invaded  her  cell, 
but,  instead  of  driving  her  into  deeper  solitude,  they 
aroused  her  will  to  wrestle  with  them  to  the  end  of 
making  the  earth  she  lived  in  a  more  godly  habitation. 


262  SIENA 

And  what  a  desolating  picture  it  was  which  society 
spread  before  her  eyes!  While  the  pope  was  an  exile 
in  Avignon,  apparently  content  never  to  return  to  his 
hereditary  seat  at  Rome,  the  emperor,  sunk  even  to 
baser  depths  than  his  spiritual  rival,  looked  upon  his 
office  as  a  mere  device  for  raising  revenue.  In  1355 
Catherine  with  her  own  eyes  may  have  seen  an  emperor, 
after  an  interval  of  a  century,  ride  through  the  streets  of 
Siena,  and  possibly  she  shared  for  a  brief  hour  the 
dream  that  his  coming  meant  an  end  of  domestic 
confusion.  But  instead  of  peace  Charles  IV  brought 
new  civil  wars  and  the  government  of  the  Twelve.  At 
her  father's  table  this  event  must  have  given  rise  to 
brisk  and  gleeful  comment,  for  the  clan  of  the  Benincasa 
belonged  to  the  new  monte  of  the  Dodicini,  and  for  a 
short  space  (1355-68)  took  rank  with  the  rulers  of  the 
city.  But  the  Twelve,  as  we  know,  were  a  wretched 
magistracy  under  whom  the  state  enjoyed  hardly  a 
moment  of  peace.  The  city  rang  with  the  lawless 
deeds  of  the  Tolomei  and  the  Salimbeni,  and  no  sooner 
was  the  din  raised  by  these  cantankerous  noblemen 
somewhat  quieted,  than  there  sounded  across  the 
contado  the  wail  of  the  poor  peasants,  plundered  and 
put  to  torture  by  the  prowling  bands  of  Hawkwood  and 
similar  adventurers.  Violence,  blasphemy,  greed,  and 
oppression  met  the  young  girl  at  every  turn  until  her 
heart  swelled  with  all  the  sorrows  of  the  race.  Had 
thirteen  hundred  years  of  Christianity  been  all  in 
vain?  "I  die  and  I  cannot  die,"  was  the  agonized 
cry  she  raised  again  and  again.*  But  in  spite  of  her 
anguish  she  sought  the  burden  of  the  world,  courag- 

*See,  for  instance,  "Lettera  90,"  III,  28. 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  263 

eously    resolved   to   do   her   part   to   realize  a  nobler 
brotherhood  of  man. 

The  work  done  by  Catherine  in  the  service  of  her 
fellows  is  generally  regarded  as  the  most  memorable 
chapter  of  her  life.  That  view,  however,  is  not  shared 
by  all  her  admirers.  Fervent  Catholics,  in  particular, 
love  to  linger  on  the  many  temptations  which  she 
victoriously  overcame,  or  to  contemplate  the  glowing 
trances  during  which  the  heavens  opened  and  she  gazed 
upon  the  serene  features  of  the  Virgin  and  her  Beloved 
Son.  The  ecstasies  of  Catherine  constitute  a  chain  of 
fascinating  incidents,  in  which  a  modern  psychologist 
should  find  a  rich  treasure  of  evidence  bearing  upon  the 
tenuous  character  of  what  in  common  phrase  we  call 
reality.  How  Saint  Catherine  in  a  vision  was  wedded 
to  Christ,  how  she  exchanged  hearts  with  her  heavenly 
Lover,  how,  finally,  she  had  seared  upon  her  flesh  the 
Five  Wounds — these  and  similar  holy  experiences 
narrated  by  her  particularly  impressed  her  age,  as 
chapel  walls  and  panels,  glorified  by  the  great 
masters  of  painting,  still  eloquently  testify  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Italy.  All  her  communica- 
tions with  the  divine  powers  occurred  in  the  state  of 
trance,  during  which,  according  to  an  eye-witness,  "  she 
appeared  like  a  statue  which  retains  nothing  but  the 
human  form."*  She  passed  into  this  condition  most 
readily  after  having  partaken  of  the  sacrament,  when, 
being  upon  her  knees,  her  head  would  fall  forward  on 
the  altar  rail,  and  she  would  lose  all  consciousness  of 
time  and  place.  Once,  as  she  lay  thus  abstracted  from 
the  world,  a  shameless  woman,  we  are  told,  moved  by 

*  Evidence  of  Caffarini.     See  Drane,  p.  71. 


264  SIENA 

scepticism  or  curiosity,  drove  a  needle  into  her  foot. 
She  gave  no  sound  of  pain,  but  an  hour  later,  when  she 
awakened  from  her  trance,  she  complained  of  suffering 
and  walked  with  a  limp.  No  student  of  human  nature 
will  be  inclined  to  minimize  this  side  of  her  career — the 
side  by  which  she  takes  rank  with  Saint  Theresa  and  the 
great  visionaries — but  no  one,  responsive  to  the  allge- 
mein  Menschliche  by  which  she  is  related  to  our  com- 
mon human  lot,  will  protest  against  devoting  particular 
attention  to  her  public  acts  and  private  charities,  the 
moving  record  not  of  her  dreams  but  of  her  earthly 
destiny. 

Catherine  had  borne  the  robe  of  penance  for  hardly 
three  years  when  she  began  to  give  up  her  life  of  close 
confinement,  irresistibly  drawn  to  the  world  by  the 
passion  of  service.  Love  henceforth  became  the 
substance  of  her  days,  the  love  which  flows  from  God 
like  a  radiance  and  is  the  one  sure  bond  uniting  His 
creatures.  To  rich  and  poor,  to  rulers  and  ruled,  to 
oppressors  and  oppressed  she  preached  the  same  doc- 
trine, convinced  that  there  were  no  ills  which  would  not 
yield  to  the  divine  cure.  All  the  sins  of  the  world,  she 
says  somewhere  in  her  passionate  and  picturesque  way, 
are  but  a  drop  of  vinegar  in  the  boundless  ocean  of 
God's  love.  This  is  the  enveloping  element,  not  God's 
wrath,  as  the  doctors  of  theology,  her  predecessors  and 
contemporaries,  had  been  sternly  telling  a  credulous 
and  frightened  people.  With  this  old-new  message  she 
moved  like  an  angel  of  light  along  the  streets  of  her 
native  town,  recalling  a  blasphemous  youth  to  the 
thought  of  God,  giving  food  to  the  needy,  speaking  a 
word  of  good  cheer  to  the  sick  and  dying.  Among  the 


THE   RELIGIOUS  SPIRIT  265 

relics  which  Siena  still  possesses  of  her — and  the  relics 
are  not  all  of  this  acceptable  human  sort — is  the  iron 
lamp  she  lighted  when  called  out  suddenly  at  night  upon 
an  errand  of  mercy.  How  often  may  she  have  lighted 
it  in  the  grim  years  when  pestilence  swept  over  the  hills 
like  a  poisonous  mist  from  the  sea,  and  her  word  of 
comfort  was  wanted  at  all  hours  in  every  quarter  of  the 
city!  But  the  healthy,  too,  had  need  of  her  ministra- 
tions, the  physically  healthy,  whose  souls  were  eaten 
with  canker.  For  the  fierce  party  and  family  feuds 
which  tore  the  entrails  of  her  native  town  she  never 
ceased  recommending  her  panacea  of  regenerating 
love.  The  conversion  of  the  young  patrician,  Stefano 
Maconi,*  from  his  sworn  vendetta,  forms  one  of  her 
noblest  conquests,  but  yields  in  interest  to  the  well- 
known  incident  connected  with  the  name  of  Niccolo 
Tuldo,  of  whose  change  of  heart  she  herself  has  left  a 
moving  record. f 

Niccolo  Tuldo  was  a  Perugian  youth  who,  during  a 
visit  to  neighboring  Siena,  called  attention  to  himself 
by  offensive  criticism  of  the  government. $  He  was 
seized,  and  immediately,  according  to  the  inhuman 
justice  of  the  day,  condemned  to  death.  The  sentence, 
falling  on  him  like  a  bolt  from  the  blue,  almost  drove 
him  out  of  his  mind.  He  raged,  cursed,  and  refused 
all  religious  consolation,  until  Catherine,  prompted  by 
her  quick  sympathies,  came  to  knock  at  his  prison  cell. 
With  sweet  compulsion  she  recalled  him  to  himself,  and 
in  a  few  visits  converted  the  young  worldling  into  a 

*  Gardner,  p.  i6Sff.     The  episode  probably  belongs  to  the  year  1376. 
t"Lettera97,"III,  p.  58 /. 

J  If  the  party  in  power  was  the  Riformatori,  as  is  probable,  the  incident 
would  belong  to  some  year  after  1368;  Gardner  assumes  the  year  1377. 


266  SIENA 

soldier  of  the  cross,  for  whom  death  lost  every  aspect 
of  terror.  Having  promised  to  be  with  him  at  the  hour 
of  trial,  she  awaited  him  at  the  foot  of  the  scaffold, 
around  which  crowded  the  usual  multitude  of  eager 
spectators. 

"He  arrived  like  a  gentle  lamb,  and  seeing  me, 
began  to  laugh,  and  desired  that  I  make  him  the  sign 
of  the  cross;  and  when  he  had  received  the  sign,  I  said 
'down;  down  to  the  espousals,  my  sweet  brother, 
which  will  bring  you  quickly  to  everlasting  life.'  He 
sank  down  with  great  humility,  and  I  laid  his  head  upon 
the  block,  and  knelt  at  his  side,  and  recalled  to  him  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  His  lips  kept  repeating  the  words 
Jesus  and  Catherine,  and  he  was  still  speaking  when  I 
received  his  head  in  my  hands.  ..." 

Then  Catherine  kneeling  and  pressing  the  head  to 
her  bosom  passed  into  an  ecstasy  in  which  she  saw  the 
soul  of  Niccolo  mount  upward  to  where  Christ  waited, 
clothed  in  the  radiance  of  the  sun.  And  a  remarkable 
feature  of  this  ecstasy  was  that  it  took  place  amidst  a 
perfect  riot  of  the  overwrought  senses.  With  hands 
and  dress  bathed  in  the  blood  of  the  victim,  which 
somehow  in  her  mystic  joy  she  associated  with  the 
blood  spilt  by  the  Redeemer,  she  wrote  these  intoxicated 
words:  "And  the  fragrance  of  the  blood  brought  me 
such  peace  and  quiet  that  I  could  not  bear  to  wash  it 
away." 

The  great  reputation  won  by  Catherine  among  the 
people  of  Siena  soon  spread  to  neighboring  parts  and 
created  a  general  demand  for  her  beneficent  presence. 
Montepulciano  sent  for  her  to  make  peace  between  two 
hostile  families;  Pisa  and  Lucca  desired  her  fertile 


THE   RELIGIOUS  SPIRIT  267 

counsel;*  and  presently  Florence  sent  a  messenger  to 
invite  her  visit.  The  Florentine  business  was  concerned 
with  the  papacy_andj>roduced  that  incident  in  her 
public  career  by  m^jins__Qf_which  she  assumes  a  place 
in  the  political- story-jofLItaly. 

In  the  year  1375  Florence,  the  old  Guelph  centre, 
had  fallen  out  with  its  natural  ally,  the  papacy,  over 
a  number  of  matters,  the  most  Immediately  pressing  of 
which  was  the  economic  policy  of  the  States  of  the 

Church  ^across  tEe...Ap£nniriesJ Owing  to  a  scarcity 

of  provisions  threatening  a  dire  famine,  the  Arno  city 
attempted  to  import  food-stuffs  from  Bologna,  but  the 
papal  legate  at  that  post  defeated  the  plan  by  a  general 
prohibition.  Perhaps  the  papal  legate,  as  the  Floren- 
tines averred,  was  plotting  to  overthrow  the  democratic 
government  in  their  city;  perhaps  the  Florentines  were 
jealous  of  the  consolidation  and  increase  of  the  papal 
states  which  had  lately  been  effected  by  the  famous  Car- 
dinal Albornoz.  At  any  rate,  popular  excesses  against 
ecclesiastics  were  followed  by  preparations  for  war, 
which  were  still  going  forward,  when,  in  December. 
1375,  the  Florentines  achieved  the  great  success  of  in- 
ducing the  lords  Imd  cities  of  the  papal  territory  to  rise 
m  revolt  against  their  master.  At  the  same  time  all 
Tuscany  declared  its  adhesion  to  the  Arno  city.  By  the 
spring  of  1376  the  pope  in  distant  Avignon  faced  a  situa- 
tion whichmust  have  filled  him  with  consternation,  jbr 
not  only  hadhe  lost  most  of  his  Italian  patrimony^Jnu 
as  longas  he  wasjnvolved  with  ail  his  resources  in  a war. 
with  Florence,  he  could  hardly  hope  totake  effective 

*  The  Montepulciano  incident  belongs  to  1374;  the  visits  to  Pisa  and  Lucca 
to  1375- 


268  SIENA 

sterjsfor  the  recovery  of  his  territory.  He  showed  his 
resentment  by  F^d^jfiirfo  J^gsumptilgu^ 
interdict.  NotEmg  daunted,  the  Florentines,  or  rather 
{fie  ^£^arty^amongjhe_Florentines,  maintained  their 
J3oiicy>  though  a  c^jiservatiye^group,  shocked  at  the 
rupture  of  the  ancient  bonds  between  Florence  and  the 
church,  applied  itself  strenuously  to  the  reestablishment 
of  peace.^  It  was  this  party  which  in  the  month  of  May 
sent  for  Catherine,  in  order  to  request  her  to  act  as 
mediator  at  Avignon. 

Although  gladly  complying  with  the  wishes  of  her 
Florentine  friends,  Catherine  did  not  fail  to  see  that 
her  journey  would  enable  her  to  promote  an  enterprise 
even  nearer  to  her  heart  than  the  cessation  of  hostilities 
in  central  Italy.  She  was  indeed  a  Christian  mystic, 
but  she  was  also  a  devoted  Catholic,  firmly  convinced 
that  the  salvation  of  mankind  could  be  wrought  only 
through  the  agency  of  the  church.  Two  things,  there- 
fore, grieved  her  spirit  above  all  others:  first,  that  the 
ministers  of  the  church,  especially  the  highest  prelates, 
were  so  often  corrupt  and  worldly,  and  second,  that  the 
chief  pastor  chose  wilfully  to  absent  himself  from  his 
appointed  capital.  With  her  usual  candor  she  wrote 
of  these  grievances  to  the  pope  in  letters  which  an- 
nounced her  approaching  visit,  and  on  June  18,  1376, 
attended  by  a  group  of  faithful  followers,  entered  the 
gates  of  the  transalpine  town.  The  reigning  pope  was 
Gregory  XI,  a  slight,  pale-visaged  Frenchman,  who 
listened  to  her  impassioned  communications  with  wistful 
longing.  He  was  ready  to  make  peace,  and  peace 
would  have  promptly  followed  if  the  Florentines  had 
really  desired  it;  more  than  that,  he  was  ready  to  go  to 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  269 

Rome,  and  in  support  of  his  declaration  could  point  to 
a  circular  letter  to  the  princes  of  Christendom  of  over 
a  year  ago,  wherein  he  had  registered  a  promise  to  that 
effect.  But  there  were  difficulties.  The  cardinals, 
Frenchmen  in  their  vast  majority,  were  unwilling  to 
exchange  the  luxurious  palaces  of  Avignon  for  the 
squalid  ruins  of  Rome,  and  belabored  him  ceaselessly 
in  the  hope  of  undermining  his  resolution.  Knowing 
his  timorous  disposition,  they  even  sent  him  a  letter, 
purporting  to  come  from  some  eminent  authority  across 
the  Alps  and  hinting  at  the  perils  of  Italian  poison.  At 
this  ruse  Catherine's  indignation  brimmed  over. 

"In  the  name  of  Christ  Crucified,"  she  wrote  him, 
"I  beg  you  to  be  not  a  fearful  child  but  a  man;  open 
your  mouth  and  swallow  the  little  drop  of  bitter  medi- 
cine. ...  By  the  infinite  and  inestimable  goodness  of 
God  I  hope  that  you  will  prove  yourself  firm  and  stable, 
and  will  not  be  disturbed  by  reason  of  any  wind  or 
trick  of  demons"  (messers,  the  cardinals,  to  wit!)  "but 
will  follow  the  will  of  God,  and  your  own  pure  desire, 
and  the  counsel  of  the  servants  of  Christ  Crucified."* 

Many  such  words  pronounced  without  fear  or  favor, 
words  which  scorched  as  with  fire  the  lordly  prelates 
anxious  for  their  ease  and  comfort,  the  holy  maid  spoke 
at  Avignon,  where  the  cooks  were  more  exquisite,  the 
tailors  more  expensive,  and  the  minstrels  and  courtesans 
more  numerous  than  anywhere  else  in  Europe.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  no  contemporary  writer  exhibits  her 
in  the  midst  of  these  splendors.  Catherine,  before  the 
wealth  and  color  and  laughter  of  the  leading  court  of 
Europe,  makes  one  of  those  striking  contrasts  in  which 

*  "Lettera  10,"  I,  p.  59. 


270  SIENA 

her  age,  an  age  of  transition,  abounded.  Half  con- 
cealed from  view  in  her  black  mantle,  with  her  eyes 
turned  inward,  she  doubtless  walked  the  streets  of  the 
fair  town,  spread  beneath  the  blue  sky  of  southern 
France,  without  noting  overmuch  those  signs  and 
trappings  which  she  would  call  mere  phases  of  corrup- 
tion, but  from  her  letters  we  gather  that  she  saw  enough 
and  more  than  enough  to  confirm  her  in  her  worst 
suspicions  of  the  state  of  the  church. 

Fortified  by  Catherine's  indomitable  spirit^  Gregory 
at  last  found  the  needed  courage,  and  setting  out  from 
Avignon,  on  January  17,  I372>  arrrve3  at  Rome  amidst 
frenzied  popular  rejoicings.  Thus  ended  the  long 
Babylonish  captivity,  not  without  -the  important  partici- 
pation of  the  Sienese  virgin.  The  great  benefits,  how- 
ever, which  she  anticipated  from  the  transfer  of  the 
papal  capital  were  slow  in  appearing.  The  Florentine 
war  party  maintained  the  upper  hand  in  the  Arno  city, 
and  throughout  the  pope's  first  year  in  the  peninsula 
the  conflict  between  himself  and  the  stubborn  democ- 
racy continued  unabated.  Catherine  bled  and  ago- 
nized over  the  miserable  issue.  In  the  early  spring  of 
the  year  1378  she  came  to  Florence  in  the  pope's  name 
to  arrange  an  honorable  peace,  and,  in  spite  of  diffi- 
culties and  even  riots,  in  one  of  which  she  almost  lost 
her  life,*  at  last  brought  the  troublesome  matter  to  a 
successful  termination.  But  Gregory  was  not  destined 
to  be  cheered  by  the  good  news.  Long  broken  in 
health _he_had  died  in  the  month  of  March,  and  with 
hjs  death  the  latent  Franco-Italian  quarrel  in  the 
college_of_cardinals  stood  revealed  before  the  world. 

*  Her  own  account,  mystically  transmuted,  in  "Lettera  96,"  III,  52  jf. 


THE   RELIGIOUS  SPIRIT  271 

The  election  which  ensued  of  the  Italian  prelate, 
UrEan  VT7  ~is~one  uf  the  must  LTinTIinV  incidents  of 
church  history.* but  Urban  was  hardly  elected  when 
the  French  faction,  repucTTating  him,  chose  one  ot  their 
own  number  under  the  title  pmiement  Vll,  and  thus 
precipitated  the  famous  crisis  called  the  Great  Schism. 
How  this  new  calamity  hung  with  a  pall  the  ardent 
mind  of  Catherine,  who  had  freely  predicted  some  such 
trouble  as  this  unless  the  poisonous  plants  were  weeded 
from  the  garden  of  the  church,  may  be  left  to  the  imagin- 
ation. The  unity  of  the  church,  as  represented  by  the 
person  of  the  pope,  was  to  her  a  sacred  thing,  and  now 
she  was  called  upon  to  be  a  spectator  while  the  cardinals 
tore  the  seamless  coat  of  Christ.  She  was  not  a  moment 
in  deciding  where  she  stood,  for,  once  assured  that  her 
Italian  compatriot  was  canonically  elected,  she  had 
really  no  liberty  of  choice.  Her  letters  to  Urban, 
rising  almost  to  shrillness  in  their  tender  solicitude,  are 
assertions  of  his  inalienable  right,  and  mingle  ringing 
encouragements  with  constantly  renewed  appeals  to 
effect  at  last  the  cure  of  the  church's  evils.  But  beyond 
instilling  her  own  high  courage  into  the  pope,  she  could 
in  this  vast  crisis  do  little  but  pray.  Therefore  her 
political  career  ceased  with  this  new  phase  of  Italian 
history.  In  November,  1378,  she  went,  at  the  pope's 
request,  to  Rome  in  order  to  lend  him  the  benefit  of  her 
wise  counsel,  and  although  her  presence  was  felt  by  the 
pontiff  as  a  strengthening  draught,  and  although  she 
wrote  letters  in  his  behalf  to  kings  and  princes,  and 
pleaded  affectionately  with  the  sulky  Romans,  always 
on  the  point  of  insurrection,  she  was  never  again  lifted 

*  Gregorovius,  "Geschichte  der  Stadt  Rom  im  Mittelalter,"  VI,  481  ff. 


272  SIENA 

high  into  the  sight  of  all  by  a  public  mission.  During 
these  her  last  months  on  earth  she  was  racked  with 
many  pangs  of  the  body  admirably  borne,  the  result  of 
her  persistent  disregard  of  the  laws  of  nature.  For 
years  she  had  starved  herself  so  that  her  stomach 
could  no  longer  support  more  than  the  merest  mouthful 
of  food.  It  was  even  currently  believed  that  she  sus- 
tained life  without  other  nourishment  than  the  bread 
received  in  communion.  This  could  be  disproved,  if 
one  were  not  satisfied  with  the  verdict  of  common- 
sense,  out  of  the  records  left  by  her  disciples,  but  in  any 
case  it  is  sure  that  she  carried  the  mortification  of  the 
flesh  to  such  a  point  that  she  was  frequently  heard  to 
say  that  the  mere  thought  of  a  meal  was  like  going  to 
execution.  Bodily  disease,  added  to  her  mental  agony 
over  the  condition  of  the  church,  was  more  than  she 
could  bear;  she  failed  steadily  through  long  weeks,  and 
on  the  aQth  of  April,  1380,  died,  lovingly  attended  to 
the  last  by  her  sorrowing  disciples.  Her  mortal  re- 
mains were  interred  at  Rome  in  the  Dominican  church, 
called  the  Minerva. 

After  her  death  the  fame  of  Catherine  grew  rather 
than  diminished,  in  consequence  of  which  fact  many 
worshiped  her  as  a  saint  without  awaiting  the  formal 
authorization  of  the  church.  At  last,  in  June,  1461, 
the  Sienese  pope,  Pius  II,  besides  gratifying  his  own 
love  for  his  native  city,  met  a  very  general  demand  by 
publishing  a  bull  which  raised  her  to  the  honor  of  the 
altars. 

So  far  has  the  story  of  the  daughter  of  Jacopo  Benin- 
casa  travelled  that  to  many  people  in  the  remoter  out- 
posts of  Christianity  Siena  is  merely  the  town  of  Saint 


Madonna  and  Child 
By  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  (in  S.  Eugcnio  Outside  Porta  S.  Marco) 


THE   RELIGIOUS   SPIRIT  273 

Catherine.  But  if  the  holy  maid  has  carried  the  fame 
of  the  city  abroad,  Siena  has  repaid  the  service  by 
lovingly  cherishing  her  memory.  Whoever  visits  the 
Tuscan  town  will  find  at  almost  every  turning 
some  token  which  brings  her  to  the  mind,  but  most 
especially  will  her  memory  attend  him  along  the  steep 
street  where  she  was  born,  and  on  the  hill  above  it 
which  bears  the  venerable  church  of  San  Domenico. 
For  the  house  of  her  father  and  the  temple  where  she 
worshiped  not  only  are  hallowed  by  her  spirit,  but  also 
cherish  some  authentic  relics  of  her  life  on  earth, 
preserved  in  a  setting  upon  which  a  number  of  eminent 
artists  have  expended  their  best  effort.  To  San 
Domenico,  in  particular,  no  admirer  of  the  maiden  will 
fail  to  make  a  pious  pilgrimage.  If  he  is  not  greatly 
drawn  to  the  relics  of  her  bodily  life,  for  the  church 
boasts  the  possession  of  her  head  and  one  of  her  fingers,* 
he  will  at  least  take  curious  and  vivacious  notice  of 
what  art  has  done  with  the  wonderful  material  of  her 
life.  In  a  chapel  built  in  her  honor  after  her  death, 
the  Lombard  Sodoma  has  portrayed  her  in  a  series  of 
much-praised  frescoes.  Sodoma  lived  in  the  sixteenth 
century  when  painting  had  already  divorced  itself  from 
religious  feeling.  It  need  cause  no  surprise,  therefore, 
that,  though  his  work  in  Saint  Catherine's  chapel  is  not 
without  a  certain  sensuous  charm,  it  should  be  marred 
by  an  almost  total  lack  of  sympathetic  insight.  Much 
more  true  to  the  honest  spirit  of  the  saint  is  the 
unadorned  portrait  of  her  by  her  contemporary  and 


*  These  were  sent  to  Siena  shortly  after  her  death  by  her  confessor  and 
biographer,  Fra  Raimondo,  and  are  exposed  on  her  annual  festival,  the  3Oth 
of  April 


274  SIENA 

disciple,  Andrea  Vanni.  It  hangs  over  the  altar  in  the 
actual  chapel — the  capella  delle  volte — where  she  prayed 
and  was  rapt  away  to  some  of  her  most  resplendent 
visions.  Standing  in  this  consecrated  enclosure  before 
her  sweet  and  solemn  countenance,  we  realize  that  one 
of  the  highest  functions  of  art  is  to  preserve  the  memory 
of  the  noble  dead,  for,  gazing,  we  are  drawn  close  as 
never  before  to  her  gracious  being,  and  in  a  revealing 
flash  see  her  as  she  was,  the  maid,  who 

.  .  .  "mixed  herself  with  heaven  and  died; 
And  now  on  the  sheer  city-side 
Smiles  like  a  bride." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    CIVIC    SPIRIT    AND    THE    BUILDING    OF 
THE   CITY 

ON  September  2,  1260,  Siena,  by  unanimous  im- 
pulse of  her  citizens,  dedicated  herself  to  the 
Virgin,  and  two  days  later  touched  the  zenith 
of  her  political  fortunes  in  the  great  victory  of  Monta- 
perti.  The  hundred  years  following  Montaperti  con- 
stitute the  period  in  the  evolution  of  Siena  during  which 
she  participated  most  vitally  in  the  life  of  Italy,  and 
won  such  a  place  as  she  holds  among  the  communes  of 
the  peninsula.  Although  this  statement  has  already 
been  illustrated  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  previous 
chapters,  a  very  suggestive  line  of  evidence  remains  yet 
to  be  adduced :  in  the  foremost  century  of  her  existence 
Siena  raised  her  cathedral  and  her  Palazzo  Pubblico, 
adorned  herself  with  fountains,  girdled  herself  with 
walls  and  gates,  in  a  word,  assumed  the  characteristic 
garment  which  she  was  to  wear  for  all  the  following  ages. 
Who  makes  the  acquaintance  of  the  Siena  of  to-day 
finds  spread  before  him  substantially  a  fourteenth  cen- 
tury town.  And  because  the  subsequent  centuries, 
effecting  innovations  and  changes  almost  everywhere 
else  in  Italy,  hardly  turned  a  stone  in  this  upland  town, 
no  other  city  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
peninsula  strikes  so  resonantly  and  significantly  the 

275 


276  SIENA 

mediaeval  note.  Her  monuments  of  brick  and  stone 
affirm  gracefully  and  ponderously  by  turn,  but  never 
doubtfully,  a  distinctive  personality,  and  as  we  are 
seeking  better  acquaintance  with  this  personality,  as  it 
constitutes  in  fact  the  real  object  of  this  book,  I  must 
consider  myself  well  employed  in  following  the  leading 
phases  by  which  the  town  became  materially  what  it  is. 

The  original  nucleus  of  Siena  was  that  highest  point 
in  the  southern  section  of  the  town,  still  called  Castello 
Vecchio  or  the  Old  Castle.  The  ridge  of  Castello 
Vecchio  drops  gently  till  it  encounters  two  other  ridges 
from  the  north  and  east  respectively  at  a  place  of 
meeting  known  by  the  name  of  Croce  di  Travaglio.* 
Immediately  below  the  Croce  di  Travaglio,  in  the  pocket 
between  the  ridges  from  the  south  and  east,  lies  the 
great  public  square  or  Campo,  which  antiquarians 
incline  to  identify  with  the  forum  of  Roman  times.  In 
the  avenues  of  communication  following  the  three 
ridges,  in  the  Croce  di  Travaglio,  and  in  the  Campo,  we 
have  the  main  features  which  determined  the  physical 
aspect  of  Siena. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  Siena  was  built  upon  three 
ridges,  the  town  appears  from  remote  times  as  divided 
into  three  sections  called  terzi.  The  terzo  lying  to  the 
south  and  embracing  Castello  Vecchio  and  its  ridge  was 
called,  in  deference  to  its  age,  Citta,  that  is  the  city; 
the  terzo  to  the  east  was  named  San  Martino ;  and  the 


*  This  mysterious  term  may  refer  to  some  cross  (croce)  which  once 
rose  here  to  mark  the  intersection  of  the  three  Sienese  spurs,  or,  quite  as 
possibly,  to  the  cruciform  shape  of  the  place  itself,  with  arms  running  off  in 
different  directions.  According  to  the  best  opinion  the  word  travaglio  is  an 
Italian  corruption  of  the  Latin  trium  vallium.  See  Heywood,  "Guide  to 
Siena,"  p.  81  (note). 


THE  CIVIC  SPIRIT  277 

northward  terzo  bore  the  designation  Camollia.  The 
houses,  massed  at  the  point  of  junction  and  running  out 
along  the  narrow  ridges,  give  Siena,  when  seen  from  one 
of  its  high  towers,  the  appearance  of  the  claw  of  some 
huge  bird  of  prey.  The  division  into  three  parts,  com- 
manded by  nature  itself,  was  of  the  kind  to  become 
deeply  imbedded  in  the  consciousness  of  the  Middle 
Age,  which  we  have  come  to  know  as  the  period  of  home 
feeling  and  neighborly  associations.  In  fact,  as  soon  as 
we  hear  of  a  commune  of  Siena,  we  are  informed  that  at 
its  head  stood  three  consuls  or  some  multiple  of  three: 
the  terzi  evidently  insisted  that  in  the  formation  of  a 
common  government  they  should  be  all  equally  repre- 
sented. When  the  consuls  were  superseded  by  a 
potesta,  who  came  from  foreign  parts,  he  was  obliged 
to  choose  his  residence  in  a  different  terzo  from  his  two 
immediate  predecessors,  in  order  that  each  terzo  might 
in  turn  harbor  the  chief  dignitary.  When  a  party 
government  replaced  the  potesta  in  the  political  direc- 
tion of  the  town  we  may  discover  in  such  magistracies 
as  the  Twenty-four,  the  Nine,  the  Twelve,  the  Fifteen- 
all  multiples  of  three — the  persistence  of  the  terzo 
jealousy.  No  less  vigorously  than  in  politics  the  ancient 
sentiment  expressed  itself  in  common  social  relations, 
as  may  be  vividly  seen,  to  mention  only  a  single  instance, 
in  the  game  of  pugna,  really  hardly  more  than  a  general 
street-fight  by  three  bands,  representative  of  the  three 
sections;  these  three  hosts  met  from  time  to  time  in  the 
Campo  and  a  curious  detail  of  their  battle  of  fists  and 
stones  was  that  Camollia  and  San  Martino  regularly 
united  apainst  Citta,  thereby  clearly  betraying  a  long- 
standing resentment  against  the  original  settlement  and 


278  SIENA 

against  certain  airs  of  superiority  by  which  its  inhab- 
itants may  have  given  offence. 

But  the  physical  separation  of  Siena  into  terzi  is  only 
the  beginning  of  the  long  tale  of  her  local  divisions. 
In  the  days  of  the  consuls  the  grandi  formed,  by  reason 
of  their  wealth  and  habits  of  life,  a  class  sharply  marked 
off  from  the  rest  of  the  people.  Their  superiority 
showed  itself  in  their  very  houses,  which,  built  of  stone 
and  brick,  occupied  the  ridges,  while  the  common 
people,  housed  wretchedly  in  wooden  huts  and  in  those 
caves  and  cellars,  specimens  of  which  still  abound  and 
which  are  made  possible  by  the  soft  clayey  character  of 
the  soil,  spread  in  careless  disorder  along  the  slopes  of 
the  hills.  The  original  houses  of  the  grandi  were  really 
rude  castles,  consisting  of  buildings  clustered  without 
any  effort  at  beauty  or  order  around  an  open  court,  and 
inhabited,  in  addition  to  the  family  or  clan,  by  retainers 
and  petty  craftsmen,  huddled  in  dark  shops  on  the 
street  level.  An  excellent  example  of  such  a  composite 
dwelling,  called  castellare,  may  still  be  seen  opposite  the 
church  of  San  Vigilio.  It  is  the  most  complete  monu- 
ment the  remote  Middle  Age  has  left  in  Siena.*  But 
sombre  as  it  is,  and  impressive  in  spite  of  its  being  a 
mere  formless  heap  of  masonry,  time  has  deprived  it  of 
the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  a  feudal  residence — 
the  tower.  In  the  early  days  every  castellare  had  a 
tower,  built  to  exceed  in  height,  if  possible,  the  tower 
of  the  neighboring  castellare.  For  not  only  was  the 
tower  the  best  possible  security  against  an  enemy,  but, 


*  Heywood  (The  "Ensamples"  of  Fra  Filippo,  p.  34  ff.)  draws  a  vivid 
picture  of  the  appearance  of  the  streets  and  houses  of  thirteenth  century 
Siena. 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  279 

by  letting  it  soar  high  over  the  roofs,  the  owner  pro- 
claimed, with  the  ingenuous  boastfulness  of  a  primitive 
race,  his  greatness  to  his  fellow-citizens.  As  late  as  the 
sixteenth  century  a  sufficiently  large  number  of  these 
towers  was  left  standing  to  make  Siena  look  at  a  dis- 
tance, we  are  told,  like  a  canebrake,*  and  even  after 
the  wholesale  destruction  ordered  by  the  Emperor 
Charles  V  to  supply  the  material  for  the  fortress  with 
which  he  planned  to  tame  the  turbulent  town,  so  many 
towers  continued  to  scale  the  sky  that  a  northern  gentle- 
man on  his  grand  tour  might  readily  imagine  that  he 
had  dropped  among  a  strange  race  of  cliff-dwellers. 
Only  a  comparatively  recent  period  has  effected  their 
complete  removal,  when,  in  consequence  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  rifts  in  their  walls,  they  threatened  the 
safety  of  the  citizens. 

Such  was  Siena  in  the  consular  period:  a  mass  of 
castellari  along  the  heights  and  over-soared  by  towers; 
with  the  congested  quarters  of  the  poor,  largely  of 
wood,  clustering  round  and  spreading  down  the  steep 
declivities.  The  main  thoroughfares  along  the  ridges, 
traced  in  Roman,  and  possibly  Etruscan,  times  were 
reasonably  broad  and  straight,  but  on  the  slopes  there 
was  an  inextricable  maze  of  dark  by-ways,  due  to 
personal  caprice  unchecked  by  anything  resembling  an 
effective  social  control.  In  sign  of  this  confusion 
Siena,  although  never  a  town  of  great  extension,  pos- 
sessed in  1301  as  many  as  thirty-six  gates,f  whereas 

*  Ugurgieri,  "Le  Pompe  Sanesi,"  II,  307.  "Erano  tante  torri  in  Siena 
che  la  Citta  pareva  un  canneto."  See  the  old  print  of  Siena  in  chap.  14. 

t  Bargagli-Petrucci,  "Le  Fonti  di  Siena,"  I,  256,  note  i.  The  author 
finds  an  additional  reason  for  the  large  number  of  gates  in  the  successive 
circles  of  walls. 


280  SIENA 

some  generations  later,  when  useless  walls  had  been 
leveled  and  the  side  streets  rectified  in  accordance  with 
the  more  rational  plan  imposed  by  a  central  government, 
one-third  that  number  was  found  to  be  ample.*  If, 
to  complete  the  picture  of  feudal  independence,  we 
recall  that  the  nobles  in  addition  to  dominating  the  city 
from  their  castellari  were  leagued  together  in  consorterie 
or  associations,  the  members  of  which  were  pledged  to 
help  one  another  and  to  take  justice  from  the  hands 
of  their  officers,  we  shall  have  formed  a  conception  of 
the  difficulty  of  reducing  a  class,  inoculated  with  ideas 
of  might  and  grandeur,  to  a  system  of  civil  order. 

The  clergy,  which,  owing  to  the  dissipation  and  ex- 
haustion of  the  authority  of  the  state  in  the  period  of 
the  Germanic  conquest,  had  practically  succeeded  in 
separating  itself  from  lay  society,  represented  another 
difficulty  of  the  early  commune.  Its  independence,  at 
first  an  affair  of  custom,  had  been  confirmed  by  solemn 
compacts,  the  slightest  encroachment  on  which  was 
sure  to  excite  a  fiery  fulmination  from  the  Holy  Father 
at  Rome.  But  the  numerous  body  of  citizens  of  clerical 
degree  was  by  no  means  one  and  undivided.  At  their 
head  stood  indeed  the  bishop,  but  within  the  imposing 
organization  what  a  profusion  of  elements,  all  more  or 
less  self-governing!  Immediately  under  the  bishop 
were  the  cathedral  canons  with  their  own  palace,  their 
own  property,  and  their  own  policy,  and  throughout  the 
city  were  convents,  male  and  female,  large  and  small, 
some  strictly  local,  and  others  affiliated  with  such  uni- 
versal orders  as  the  Benedictines,  the  Cistercians,  the 
Dominicans,  and  the  Franciscans.  Among  the  laity, 

*  Nine  is  the  number  of  gates  Siena  has  to-day. 


THE  CIVIC  SPIRIT  281 

hardly  less  penetrated  with  the  spirit  of  religious 
association  than  the  clergy  itself,  we  encounter  not  only 
voluntary  societies,  whose  members  wore  a  clerical- 
looking  gown  and  devoted  themselves  to  deeds  of  char- 
ity, but  also  more  formal  corporations  called  confra- 
ternities, not  unlike  our  secret  and  mutual  aid  societies, 
and  pledged  to  render  service  to  their  bretheren  in  mis- 
fortune, sickness,  and  death.  Bishop  and  parish 
priests,  canons,  the  innumerable  convents,  confrater- 
nities, and  lay  charitable  unions  give  some  idea  of  the 
varied  and  picturesque  aspect  of  mediaeval  religious  life. 

So  much  for  the  nobility  and  clergy;  below  them  was 
the  body  of  the  common  people  who  lived  by  the  sweat 
of  their  brows  and  whose  numbers  grew  constantly 
greater  with  the  development  of  civil  society.  One  of 
the  first  signs  they  gave  of  a  renewed  energy  was  by 
the  formation  of  military  companies.  Apparently  one 
such  company  sprang  up  in  each  parish,  while  the  union 
of  all  of  them  constituted  itself  as  the  armed  host  of 
the  republic.  Another  assurance  of  growing  vigor 
was  furnished  by  the  industrial  organization  of  the 
commoners,  effected  by  means  of  the  guilds  or  arti. 
The  arti,  in  measure  as  they  accumulated  wealth  and 
influence,  yielded  to  the  corporative  bias  and  exercised 
an  increasing  sway  over  their  members  through  a 
mechanism  of  officers,  police,  revenues,  and  justice. 
Small  wonder,  in  view  of  this  ubiquitous  group  activity, 
that  a  distinguished  student  of  the  Italian  Middle  Age 
has  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  mediaeval  town  was 
a  very  miracle  of  internal  divisions. 

And  now  we  are  in  a  position  to  appreciate  the  hercu- 
lean labor  undertaken  by  the  new  political  entity,  the 


282  SIENA 

commune.  Not  only  were  the  clergy,  nobles,  merchants, 
and  artisans,  used  to  independence  and  exercising  it 
daily,  to  be  fused  into  a  body  of  citizens  subjected  to  a 
common  law  and  recognizing  a  common  duty,  but  out  of 
the  various  loyalties,  bound  up  with  geographical, 
military,  and  professional  associations  and  communi- 
cated to  the  blood  and  marrow  through  ancient  habit, 
was  to  be  created  a  higher  loyalty  attaching  to  the 
new-born  commune  of  Siena.  Only  as  that  loyalty, 
called  patriotism  in  our  day,  should  grow  and  flourish, 
could  the  town  generate  the  civic  spirit,  upon  the 
health  and  vigor  of  which  depended  its  greatness. 
And,  in  spite  of  difficulties,  jealousies,  clashes,  the 
civic  spirit  was  born  and  stood  forth  in  the  light. 
Without  it  there  would  have  been  no  history  of  Siena 
capable  of  holding  our  attention  for  even  a  moment. 
The  achievements  of  that  spirit  in  the  constitutional, 
administrative,  and  political  fields  we  have  already 
examined;  we  shall  now  proceed  to  examine  the 
remembrance  it  has  left  of  itself  in  monuments  of  public 
utility  and  beauty. 

It  is  characteristic  of  all  the  Italian  communes  that 
their  earliest  municipal  enthusiasm  gravitated  toward 
the  church.  Not  only  were  mediaeval  men  wrapped  up 
in  religious  practices  much  more  than  it  is  easy  for  us 
to  understand,  not  only  was  the  church  the  object  of  a 
veneration  deep  as  the  springs  of  life,  but  the  cathedral 
of  the  bishop,  not  waiting  to  be  created  like  the  com- 
mune, but  existent  and  tangible,  though  often  of  small 
dimensions,  was  the  natural  focus  of  that  sentiment,  the 
most  ineradicable  experienced  by  the  human  heart, 
the  love  of  home.  No  sooner  had  this  feeling  been 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  283 

roused  from  passivity  to  action  with  the  stir  of  new  life 
in  the  towns,  than  the  people  of  each  exhibited  discon- 
tent with  the  petty  proportions  of  their  central  house  of 
worship.  Its  abolition  to  make  room  for  a  more 
magnificent  structure  became  the  universally  chosen 
means  of  declaring  that  the  town  was  reborn.  Every 
visitor  of  Venice  grows  instinctively  aware  how  all  the 
struggles  and  triumphs  of  the  young  republic  are 
entered  in  that  wonderful  volume  which  bears  the  name 
of  the  basilica  of  St.  Mark.  Whoever  has  stood  before 
the  cathedrals  of  Pisa,  Florence,  and  Lucca  has  been 
able  to  read  upon  their  walls,  as  if  written  with  illu- 
minated letters,  the  story  of  the  communes  to  which  they 
bear  perpetual  witness.  Just  so  is  Siena  bound  up  with 
her  cathedral,  which  we  may  rightly  name  the  first 
labor  of  her  civic  spirit. 

It  was  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  thirteenth  century 
when,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Twenty-four,  the  town 
was  mounting  to  its  meridian,  that  the  citizens  of  Siena 
resolved  to  tear  down  the  old  cathedral,  named  for  the 
Virgin,  and  to  build  a  new  one  which,  dedicated  to  the 
same  supreme  Lady,  should  be  commensurate  with  the 
growing  wealth  and  political  importance  of  their  com- 
mune.* The  historian  Malavolti  assigns  the  beginning 
of  the  work  to  the  year  1245;  not  improbably  it  was 
initiated  a  few  years  earlier.  The  original  architect 
has  not  been  discovered,  and  no  operaio  or  head  of  the 
works  is  named  in  the  documents  till  we  get  down  to 

*  The  literature  on  the  cathedral  is  extensive.  I  refer  the  reader  to: 
Milanesi,  "Document!  per  la  Storia  dell'  Arte  Senese";  Borghesiand  Banchi, 
"Nuovi  Documenti  per  la  Storia  dell'  Arte  Senese";  Richter,  "Siena"; 
Langton  Douglas,  "History  of  Siena,"  p.  265  ff.;  Canestrelli,  "Bull.  Sen.," 
XI,  p.  J2/.;  C.  E.  Norton,  "  Church-Building  in  the  Middle  Ages." 


284  SIENA 

1257,  when  we  find  a  Cistercian  monk  from  San  Gal- 
gano,  Fra  Vernaccio,  in  charge.  This  circumstance 
has  misled  some  scholars,  inclined  to  give  more  weight 
to  literary  arguments  than  to  the  evidence  of  the  senses, 
into  the  belief  that  the  style  of  the  cathedral  was  bor- 
rowed from  the  wonderful  abbey  of  San  Galgano, 
which  had  just  risen  on  the  banks  of  the  Merse,  some 
fifteen  miles  to  the  south.  Nothing  could  be  more 
erroneous.  San  Galgano  is,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter, 
a  remarkably  pure  production  of  French  Gothic 
inspiration,  while  the  cathedral  is  an  Italian  structure 
of  prevailingly  Romanesque  character.  Fra  Vernaccio 
was  succeeded  presently  by  Fra  Melano,  also  a  Cis- 
tercian from  San  Galgano,  and  during  his  incumbency 
occurred,  on  September  2,  1260,  the  stirring  dedication 
of  Siena  to  the  Virgin  under  the  direction  of  Buonaguida 
Lucari  and  the  bishop,  and  with  the  passionate  partici- 
pation of  the  whole  citizen  body.  At  the  time  of  this 
event  the  distinctive  feature  of  the  structure,  the  great 
cupola  over  the  crossing,  was  practically  finished, 
together  with  the  towering  campanile,  a  part  of  the 
transept,  and  all  the  west  end  as  far  as  it  was  then 
planned  to  be  carried,  which  was,  however,  two  bays 
short  of  the  present  length.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  cathedral  in  which  Siena  prepared  her  spirit  for  the 
great  trial  of  Montaperti,  and  to  which  she  carried  her 
thank-offerings  after  her  victory,  was  hardly  more  than 
half  the  size  of  the  final  edifice. 

Fra  Melano  continued  in  charge  for  more  than  a 
decade,  during  which  time  he  extended  both  the  right 
and  left  transepts  by  a  bay,  and  called  Niccolo  Pisano — 
the  summons  occurred  in  1266 — to  erect  the  famous 


Madonna,  Child,  Saints,  and  Angels 
By  Matteo  di  Giovanni  (in  the  Galleria  dclle  Belle  Arti) 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  285 

pulpit,  which  still  constitutes  one  of  the  main  decora- 
tions of  the  interior.  Before  the  downfall  of  the 
Twenty-four,  occasioned  by  the  overthrow  of  Tuscan 
Ghibellinism  at  the  diastrous  battle  of  Colle  (1269), 
the  cathedral  was  done  as  originally  planned  except 
for  the  facade.  As  Giovanni  Pisano,  the  equally 
famous  son  of  Niccolo,  was  operaio  from  1284  to  1298, 
it  has  been  surmised  that  he  was  employed  for  the 
precise  purpose  of  giving  the  building  its  missing  front; 
however,  as  the  first  facade  was  torn  down  at  a  later 
time  to  make  room  for  an  extension  of  the  nave,  the 
Pisan  artist's  authorship  of  this  section  is  no  more  than  a 
reasonable  conjecture.  In  no  case  can  he  have  had 
anything  to  do  with  the  existing  facade,  though  a  current 
tradition  persistently  refers  to  him  as  its  author.  Thus 
the  eager  activity  of  hardly  more  than  a  single  genera- 
tion of  men  had  given  the  Virgin  a  new  home  and 
endowed  the  Sienese  with  a  treasure  of  beauty  in  which 
rich  and  poor  had  an  equal  share. 

However,  after  some  decades,  following  the  common 
fashion  of  fickle  man,  the  citizens  began  to  exhibit  dis- 
content with  the  house  of  their  Protectress.  Florence 
and  Orvieto,  neighbors  to  the  north  and  south,  were 
engaged  upon  more  spacious  cathedrals,  and  Siena  had 
no  desire  to  be  thrown  into  the  shade.  The  Nine,  that 
capable  though  partisan  government,  representative  of 
the  merchant  class  and  borne  just  then  on  the  mounting 
tide  of  prosperity,  shared  fully  the  popular  sentiment, 
and  in  the  year  1315  undertook  an  enlargement,  inaugu- 
rating thereby  a  second  period  of  construction  in  the 
history  of  the  cathedral.  The  plan  adopted  was  to 
build  a  choir  eastward  behind  the  cupola,  and,  as  the 


286  SIENA 

ground  in  this  region  descended  precipitously,  it  was 
resolved  to  lead  out  the  choir  like  a  viaduct  over  power- 
ful piers,  which  would  offer  the  additional  advantage  of 
affording  room,  among  their  masonry,  for  a  new  bap- 
tistery. It  may  have  weighed  with  the  architects  that  at 
Assisi  a  magnificent  effect  had  been  produced  by  throw- 
ing out  vast  buttresses  over  the  brow  of  a  hill  for  the 
support  of  the  great  central  church  of  the  order  of 
Saint  Francis.  By  the  new  plan  the  cathedral  would 
be  enlarged  at  least  one-third,  while  a  worthier  structure 
would  be  obtained  to  take  the  place  of  the  old  baptistery, 
which  lay  to  the  right  of  the  cathedral  and  had  fallen  into 
contempt  as  the  relic  of  a  barbarous  time.  The  new 
work  was  advancing  slowly,  owing  to  the  difficulties 
of  the  site,  when  a  commission  of  experts,  called  together 
in  1322  and  having  among  them  the  famous  Sienese, 
Lorenzo  di  Maitano,  architect  at  Orvieto,  declared  the 
recent  construction  unsafe,  and  recommended  the  build- 
ing of  an  entirely  new  church.  As  this  advice  was  too 
startling  and  audacious,  it  was  rejected  by  the  govern- 
ment and  the  old  plan  adhered  to  for  another  seventeen 
years.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  while  the  choir  and 
baptistery  were  still  struggling  with  apparently  unsolv- 
able  difficulties,  the  idea  of  a  new  church  had  made  so 
many  proselytes  that  the  sentiment  in  its  favor  carried 
the  day.  On  August  23,  1339,  the  momentous  decision 
was  made;  Lando  di  Pietro,  a  Sienese  in  the  employ 
of  the  king  of  Naples,  was  called  from  the  south  to  take 
charge;  and  in  the  following  February  the  first  stone 
of  the  new  structure  was  set  in  place.  The  proposal 
was  to  erect  the  duomo  nuovo  at  right  angles  to  the 
existing  edifice,  thus  preserving  the  latter  but  reducing 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  287 

it  to  serve  as  transept  for  a  new  and  magnificent  nave 
with  aisles.  If  the  project  had  been  carried  out  a 
provincial  town  of  southern  Tuscany  would  have 
boasted  the  most  splendid  temple  of  Italy.  The  very 
thought  explains  the  doom  which  overtook  the  structure. 
Siena  had  overreached  herself;  although  she  was  still 
animated  with  hope  and  overflowing  with  life,  such  a 
central  church  decidedly  overstated  her  importance 
among  the  Tuscan  communes.  The  gente  vana,  whom 
even  the  stern  Dante  reproved  more  in  sorrow  than  in 
anger,  had  with  the  impulsiveness  of  children  under- 
taken an  enterprise  beyond  their  strength,  and  presently, 
when  difficulties  accumulated  in  their  path,  impulsively 
gave  it  up.  The  difficulties,  however,  it  must  be 
granted,  were  enormous.  First  came  the  plague  of 
1348,  bringing  manifold  ruin  to  the  city,  and  presently, 
cracks  appeared  in  the  new  parts,  telling  an  ominous 
tale  of  faulty  construction.  This  discouraging  circum- 
stance, by  the  way,  had  attended  the  building  of  the 
cathedral  from  the  first,  and  justifies  the  assertion,  sup- 
ported by  copious  evidence  from  other  towns  of  the 
peninsula,  that  the  Italian  architects  were  as  deficient 
in  technical  knowledge  as  they  were  abundantly  pos- 
sessed of  audacity,  imagination,  and  aesthetic  percep- 
tion. While  the  work  came  to  a  standstill  and  experts 
insisted  on  the  necessity  of  taking  down  the  injured 
vaults  to  prevent  a  catastrophe,  the  Nine,  patrons  of  the 
new  dome,  were  themselves  overtaken  with  ruin  (1355). 
They  were  followed  by  the  Twelve,  mean  folk  of  reduced 
vistas,  who,  after  ordering,  in  the  year  1357,  that  the 
unsafe  portions  be  removed,  let  the  whole  plan  quietly 
lapse  into  oblivion. 


288  SIENA 

The  visitor  to  Siena  never  fails  to  be  arrested  by  the 
few  arches  which  still  stand  of  the  famous  dome  of 
Lando  di  Pietro.  The  slender  piers  support  a  succession 
of  round  arches  as  bold  and  graceful  as  any  to  be  found 
in  the  peninsula,  where  boldness  and  grace  are  the 
recurrent  expression  of  the  national  genius.  But  even 
the  chance  traveller  can  see  that  these  exquisite  piers 
would  be  unable  to  support  the  vaults  of  the  colossal 
nave  which  defied  completion,  and  that  the  colossal 
nave  itself  was  the  dream  of  a  people,  splendidly  cour- 
ageous indeed  but  lacking  in  that  self-command  and 
just  measure  which  are  the  spiritual  groundwork  of 
every  enduring  success. 

The  abandonment  of  the  impossible  carried  the  mind 
back  once  more  to  the  possible,  with  the  result  that  the 
old  project  of  an  extended  choir  led  out  over  the  brow 
of  the  hill  on  massive  foundations  was  again  taken  up. 
If  Siena  would  have  to  be  content  with  the  cathedral 
she  possessed,  she  could  at  least  add  to  the  size  and  the 
beauty  of  the  existing  structure.  This  clear  resolution 
must  be  put  at  the  side  of  the  disastrous  inconsequence 
connected  with  the  new  dome,  if  we  would  do  justice  to 
the  moral  reserves  of  a  race,  which,  often  as  it  yielded 
to  its  reckless  instincts,  never  failed  to  disclose,  when  the 
need  was  greatest,  a  sufficient  fund  of  manly  persistence. 
By  the  year  1370  the  choir  end  had  been  completed, 
and,  immediately  after,  steps  were  taken  to  enlarge  the 
opposite  or  west  end.  The  old  facade,*  possibly  the 
work  of  Giovanni  Pisano,  was  removed,  and,  after  the 

*  Some  notion  of  the  appearance  of  this  first  facade  can  be  gained  from 
an  old  book-cover  of  the  Biccherna,  preserved  in  the  archives  and  reproduced 
by  Richter,  "Siena,"  p.  46.  A  modest  performance,  this,  in  pleasing  contrast 
with  the  pretentious  front  which  replaced  it. 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  289 

nave  had  been  lengthened  by  two  bays,  a  new  facade, 
conceived  as  the  fitting  crown  of  the  enterprise,  was 
taken  in  hand.  The  work  was  begun  in  the  year  1377, 
and  advanced  so  rapidly  that  by  1382  the  Board  of 
Works  could  again  transfer  its  attention  to  the  east  end 
and  to  the  problem  of  a  suitable  frontispiece  for  the 
recently  completed  choir  and  baptistery.  On  a  sketch 
furnished  by  the  painter,  Jacopo  di  Mino  di  Neri  del 
Pellicciaio,  and  still  to  be  seen  in  the  museum  of  the 
Opera,  the  east  facade  was  carried  to  the  present  height 
and  never  finished.  The  difficulties,  which  even  the 
untrained  eye  can  appreciate,  were  too  great  for  the 
science  of  the  Italian  architects.* 

A  thing  highly  remarkable,  in  view  of  the  capricious 
history  which  I  have  traced,  is  that  to  step  within  the 
cathedral  of  Siena  is  to  receive  a  perfectly  consistent 
artistic  impression.  This  impression  arises  from  the 
character  stamped  upon  the  structure  by  the  earliest 
operaii  and  maintained,  in  spite  of  slight  deviations  of 
taste,  by  all  the  subsequent  builders.  The  cathedral 
is  a  thoroughly  Italian  edifice,  employing  the  construc- 
tive forms  of  the  Romanesque  style  as  developed  in 
Lombardy,  and  fusing  them  with  certain  elements, 
chiefly  decorative,  which  derive  from  the  Tuscan  school 
of  Pisa.  The  Lombard  vaulted  architecture,  containing 
the  germ  of  Gothic  but  utterly  lacking  in  Gothic  eleva- 
tion and  flight,  produced  a  low,  massive,  and  ill-lighted 

*  To  render  complete  this  long  story  of  construction,  I  add  that  a  hundred 
years  later  the  interior  was  adorned  with  two  features  which  are  the  object 
of  much  admiration:  The  small  and  delicate  Baptistery  in  the  northwest 
angle  of  the  left  transept  was  built  in  the  year  1482,  and  the  Piccolomini 
Library,  containing  the  celebrated  frescoes  of  Pintoricchio,  in  1495.  Both  of 
these  additions  employ  the  forms  of  the  early  Renaissance,  but,  lost  in  the 
vast  edifice,  do  not  modify  the  general  mediaeval  effect. 


290  SIENA 

structure,  pervaded  by  a  startling  effect  of  brooding 
sombreness.  Sant'  Amb-rogio,  that  ponderous  though 
hardly  beautiful  church  of  Milan,  is  an  excellent 
example  of  what  the  unadulterated  Lombard  principles 
aesthetically  signify.  The  cathedral  of  Siena  makes  a 
similar  appeal,  considerably  modified,  however,  by  the 
presence  of  certain  Pisan  features.  The  Pisan  school, 
as  may  be  seen  by  the  unique  and  overwhelming  group 
of  cathedral,  baptistery,  and  campanile  in  that  solitary, 
grass-grown  square  of  the  Arno  town,  cultivated,  by 
means  of  beautiful  arcades  and  a  subtle  use  of  different 
colored  marbles,  a  style  which  associates  itself  with  the 
free  and  sunny  traditions  of  classical  Italy.  The  earliest 
architects  at  Siena,  whoever  they  were,  were  imbued 
with  Lombard  ideas,  but,  owing  to  an  acquaintance  with 
Pisan  results,  wished  to  graft  the  charm  and  elegance 
of  the  neighboring  school  on  the  Lombard  stock.  If 
the  thought  in  itself  was  good,  the  execution  is  subject 
to  some  heavy  strictures,  for  the  slight  arcade  around  the 
cupola  hardly  suffices  to  produce  an  effect  of  elegance, 
and  the  alternate  bands  of  black  and  white  marble, 
representing  the  Sienese  version  of  the  Pisan  brilliancy 
of  surface,  instead  of  supplying  a  note  of  gaiety,  only 
deepen  the  natural  gloom  of  the  edifice.  That  the 
Board  of  Works  was  itself  not  delighted  with  the 
misapplied  Pisan  effect  is  proved  by  the  circumstance 
that,  when  the  choir  was  reached,  the  amount  of  black 
marble  used  in  piers  and  walls  was  considerably  reduced, 
to  the  immense  brightening  of  that  section.  A  similar 
tendency  to  excess,  the  usual  fault  of  youth  and  inex- 
perience, may  also  be  observed  in  the  extraordinary 
cornice,  which,  composed  of  the  heads  of  the  long  sue- 


THE  CIVIC  SPIRIT  291 

cession  of  the  popes,  circles  the  whole  nave  and  choir. 
These  and  other  features,  over  which  experts  doubtfully 
shake  their  heads,  and  which  tend  to  puzzle  the  visiting 
dilettante,  do  not,  however,  succeed  in  keeping  the 
cathedral  from  making  that  triumphant  impression, 
which,  however  achieved,  we  know  to  be  a  thing  rising 
above  details  and  defying  intellectual  analysis.  Espe- 
cially when  the  evening  light  sifts  through  the  clerestory, 
softening  the  harsh  dispute  between  the  banded  black 
and  white,  and  spreading  a  warm  gloom  among  the  tall 
piers,  stretching  in  solemn  rows  through  nave  and 
transept,  the  spacious  beauty  of  this  interior  will  unfold 
itself  to  every  one  whose  approach  to  the  world  of  art 
is  unvexed  by  thought,  and  who  rates  a  genial  and  naive 
simplicity  above  the  correctness  of  an  unerring  taste. 

When  I  said  that  the  cathedral  strikes  unhesitatingly 
the  Romanesque  note  I  did  not  mean  to  imply  that  it  is 
entirely  free  from  minor  Gothic  traits  and  adornments. 
Gothic  forms  succeeded  in  obtaining  so  universal  an 
ascendency  in  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century  that 
they  were  certain  to  insinuate  themselves  even  into  a 
building  deriving  from  an  earlier  inspiration.  In  the 
Sienese  cathedral  they  meet  the  eye  at  every  turn,  in  the 
forms  of  the  windows,  in  the  capitals,  in  the  profiles 
of  the  ribs,  but  wherever  they  occur  they  are  absorbed 
into  a  perfect  harmony  with  the  prevailing  style. 

When  we  step  from  the  nave  into  the  open  air  to 
receive  the  impression  which  the  exterior  view  makes 
upon  the  mind,  we  are  likely  to  surrender  ourselves, 
first  of  all,  to  the  happy  sense  of  release  attending  our 
passing  from  a  place  of  solemn  gloom  into  the  clear, 
boundless  light  of  an  Italian  day.  This  long  edifice, 


292  SIENA 

enveloped  in  shining  marble  and  crowned  by  cupola 
and  soaring  campanile,  has  under  the  blue  sky  an  air  of 
frank  communication  which  is  in  the  sharpest  possible 
contrast  with  the  ghostly  suggestion  and  whispered 
messages  of  the  interior.  How  imposingly  and  with 
what  a  sense  of  ease  it  spreads  its  huge  mass  over  the 
hill!  What  a  crown  to  shine  forever,  white  and  pure 
above  the  clustered  houses  of  the  city  browned  with 
age  and,  at  the  hour  of  sunset,  glowing  dull  red  as  in 
memory  of  the  spilt  blood  of  civil  feuds!  If,  in  the 
lonely  piazza  of  Pisa  may  be  seen  greater  charm  and 
grace,  elements  of  charm  and  grace  are  here  also,  in  the 
smooth  garment  of  marble  and  in  the  cupola  with  its 
delicate  arcade.  If,  as  close  by  as  San  Galgano,  we 
may  see  nobler  Gothic,  these  windows  of  aisle  and  clere- 
story have  at  least  an  undoubted  distinction  and  finish. 
So  runs  our  impression  till,  slowly  swinging  round  the 
square,  we  stand  face  to  face  with  the  facade.  Except 
as  a  curiosity,  a  tour  de  force,  it  is  incredible  that  any 
one  should  have  patience  with  this  celebrated  feature 
of  the  exterior,  and  support  the  shock  with  which  it  falls 
upon  the  sensibilities.  It  was  planned  as  an  adaptation 
of  the  facade  of  the  cathedral  of  Orvieto  which,  though 
it,  too,  has  little  organic  connection  with  its  interior 
and  is  made  to  play  the  part  of  a  mere  screen,  achieves 
a  beauty  all  its  own,  due  to  a  fusion  in  admirably  chosen 
proportions  of  architecture,  sculpture,  and  mosaic. 
Of  this  merit,  a  merit  of  harmony,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
Sienese  counterfeit;  in  its  place  we  meet  that  barbarous 
spirit  of  excess,  of  which  we  have  found  other  traces 
in  the  building,  and  in  which  we  are  obliged  to  recognize 
a  national  trait.  The  superabundance  of  sculpture, 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  293 

not  in  subdued  relief  as  at  Orvieto,  but  in  the  round 
and  of  all  sizes,  has,  quite  apart  from  the  wilful  blurring 
of  the  great  structural  lines,  practically  obliterated  the 
architecture.  The  facade  exists  for  the  sculpture  only, 
which  circumstance,  in  view  of  the  necessarily  ancillary 
function  of  sculpture,  removes  every  doubt  concerning 
the  fitness  of  this  terminal  production.  It  is  the  Christ- 
mas dream  of  a  fanciful  but  undisciplined  child,  not 
only  disorganized  and  bewildering  but,  owing  to  a  recent 
restoration,  deprived  of  that  saving  grace  of  many  a 
mediocre  handiwork  of  man,  the  ivory  tint  of  age.  In 
sharp  contrast'  to  the  west  front,  the  baptistery  end  was 
planned  in  a  modest,  attractive,  and  wholly  Sienese 
adaptation  of  Gothic  principles,  and,  although  un- 
finished, may  boldly  be  called  the  most  satisfactory 
feature  of  the  whole  exterior.  In  west  and  east  end 
respectively  we  may  see  two  significant  and  contrasting 
phases  of  the  Sienese  temper. 

Again  I  submit,  that  for  all  the  strictures  and  problems 
cast  up  by  the  detailed  examination  of  this  cathedral, 
there  is  a  simple  remedy  which  blots  them  out  of  exist- 
ence. We  have  only  to  withdraw  our  attention  from 
youthful  violences  and  unassimilated  experiments  push- 
ing themselves  into  notice  here  and  there,  in  order  to 
take  in  with  a  creative  sweep  the  marvellous  image  of  the 
whole,  and  we  must  fall  under  the  spell  of  the  splendor 
and  majesty  of  this  monument,  to  which  many  genera- 
tions gave  their  love  and  labor,  and  where  we  may  read, 
expressed  in  stone  and  marble,  the  passions,  the  faults, 
and  the  destiny  of  a  nation. 

A  similar  atmosphere  lends  a  romantic  charm  to  that 
other  great  emanation  of  the  civic  spirit,  the  Palazzo 


294  SIENA 

Pubblico.*  We  have  seen  that  in  the  early  days  of  the 
commune  the  new  government  followed  the  practice 
of  putting  the  churches  to  public  use,  and  of  renting 
private  residences  in  order  to  house  its  officials.  The 
Constitution  of  1262  showed  us  the  Council  of  the  Bell  in 
session  in  the  church  of  San  Cristofano,  while  the  potesta 
held  court  in  San  Pellegrino  and  dwelt  with  his  suite  in 
a  mansion  rented  from  a  citizen.  These  arrangements, 
unexceptionable  in  the  nursery  days  of  the  commune 
when  its  business  was  inconsiderable,  would  be  found 
unsatisfactory  in  the  period  of  manhood;  and,  in  fact, 
as  early  as  1193,  we  encounter  a  measure  proving  that 
the  republic  had  awakened  to  the  new  necessities  of  its 
position.  In  that  year  the  consuls  acquired  land  on 
the  lower  edge  of  the  Campo,  and  after  filling  in  the 
ground  and  building  a  retaining  wall — a  measure 
necessitated  by  the  sharp  declivity  at  this  point — erected 
a  modest  edifice  of  probably  no  more  than  a  single 
story  on  the  higher  or  Campo  side.  This  was  the 
nucleus  of  the  great  palace  of  later  days,  and  in  it  were 
housed  the  dogana  del  sale  e  dell'  olio  and  the  public 
mint,  called  il  bolgano.  Thus  matters  rested  for  about 
one  hundred  years,  when  the  inconvenience  and  lack 
of  dignity  attaching  to  the  haphazard  installation  of  the 
potesta  and  Council  of  the  Bell  led  to  a  succession  of 
improvements.  In  this  connection  it  must  again  im- 
press the  modern  mind  that  there  was  nothing  suggest- 
ing dispatch  or  precipitation  in  the  founding  of  a 
mediaeval  commonwealth.  Every  step  was  taken  after 

*  Scattered  contributions  on  the  history  of  this  structure,  together  with 
abundant  archivial  material,  have  been  utilized  in  the  valuable  study  of 
Donati,  "Bull.  Sen.,"  XI,  p.  311  ff.  As  my  story  of  the  construction  of  the 
palazzo  is  based  upon  Donati,  I  refer  to  him,  once  and  for  all,  at  this  point. 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  295 

ripe  consideration  and  under  pressure  of  ineluctable 
necessity.  The  necessity,  in  the  case  of  the  Council  of 
the  Bell,  was  that  ever  since  the  year  1271  it  was  without 
a  home,  and  reduced  to  a  very  disconcerting  and  no- 
madic existence,  because  San  Cristofano  had  to  be 
abandoned  by  reason  of  injuries  received  in  connection 
with  the  spiteful  destruction  of  the  houses  of  the  famous 
Provenzano  Salvani  which  abutted  thereon.  For  more 
than  a  decade  the  Council  was  obliged  to  meet  in  private 
houses,  rented  from  great  nobles,  until  the  humiliating 
situation  was  ended  (1284)  by  the  construction,  within 
the  Dogana,  of  an  appropriate  council  chamber.  In 
the  same  year  the  potesta  was  permanently  assigned  to 
a  rented  house  to  the  right  of  the  Dogana,  and  the  Nine, 
whose  period  of  power  had  just  dawned,  shortly  after 
leased  and  moved  into  a  house  on  the  left  of  the  com- 
munal structure.  The  main  branches  of  the  public 
service  were  now  at  least  concentrated  at  one  point. 

With  the  question  of  the  communal  offices  clearly 
put,  the  movement  had  inevitably  to  continue  until  the 
republic  had  provided  itself  with  a  specially  constructed 
palace  commensurate  with  its  position  in  the  Italian 
world.  In  1288  a  resolution  was  passed  conformable 
to  this  idea,  and  was  shortly  followed  by  the  purchase 
of  the  rented  houses  on  either  side  of  the  Dogana.  Not 
till  ten  years  later,  however,  was  actual  work  begun  on 
the  famous  municipal  residence  which  still  stands — 
work  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  was  not  entirely 
new  construction  according  to  a  general  plan,  but 
which  consisted  in  considerable  part  of  a  remodelling  of 
existing  buildings.  In  a  comparatively  short  time  the 
central  section  or  torrione  had  taken  the  shape  we  now 


296  SIENA 

see;  as  early  as  1299,  we  are  informed,  it  was  completed 
to  the  very  battlements.  And  now  any  further  delay 
which  occurred  was  due  solely  to  the  lack  of  funds. 
Early  in  the  fourteenth  century  we  hear  that  the  potesta's 
wing  to  the  right  of  the  torrione  was  under  way,  and  in 
1310  the  left  wing,  or  wing  of  the  Nine,  was  ready  for 
occupation.  The  palazzo  thus  completed  in  a  period 
of  hardly  more  than  ten  years  is  substantially  the 
palazzo  of  to-day  except  that  it  was  a  story  lower  in 
each  of  the  wings.  Within  were  two  open  courts,  one, 
which  may  still  be  admired,  in  the  section  of  the  potesta, 
the  other,  enclosed  in  modern  times  and  encumbered 
with  a  broad  stairway,  in  the  wing  called  of  the  Nine  or, 
as  frequently,  of  the  Signoria.* 

In  the  subsequent  years  followed  many  additions  and 
improvements.  We  learn  that  the  treasury  office  or 
Biccherna,  which  had  found  a  home  in  the  central 
secion,  received  a  stone  vault,  and  that  the  walls  of 
various  rooms  were  made  beautiful  with  paintings,  but 
we  perceive  that  no  further  important  work  in  construc- 
tion took  place  on  the  Campo  till  the  government 
resolved  to  build  itself  a  tower  for  its  bells.  The  town 
bells,  which  summoned  the  members  of  the  Council  to 
their  deliberations;  which  announced  the  dawn  of 
another  day  of  work,f  and  at  night  tolled  the  curfew, 

*  This  suppression  of  one  of  the  interior  courts  was  effected,  in  order  to 
meet  some  fancied  needs,  in  the  year  1680.  In  the  same  year  another  even 
more  important  change  was  made,  for  the  wings  on  either  side  of  the  torrione 
received  their  second  story.  Clear  evidence  of  the  original  height  of  these 
wings  is  furnished  by  the  rows  of  arches  which  are  still  visible  under  the 
second  story  windows,  and  which  supported  the  original  battlements.  The 
wonder  is  that  the  seventeenth  century  should  have  effected  a  remodelling 
of  the  front  in  so  chaste  a  spirit. 

fThe  Constitution  of  1262  declared  (I,  304)  that  every  dawn  the  bell 
must  be  rung  per  magnam  horam,  a  full  hour! 


Charity.     A  detail  from  Jacopo  della  Quercia's  Fountain 
In  the  Loggia  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  297 

clearing  the  streets  and  squares  of  chatter  and  business; 
which,  in  the  absence  of  clocks,  were  relied  upon  to  give 
notice  of  the  passing  hours — the  town  bells,  I  say,  had 
a  share  in  mediaeval  life  which  made  them  an  object  of 
almost  superstitious  veneration.  Following  the  general 
custom,  they  had  been  hung  originally  in  rented  towers, 
until  the  resolution  was  taken  to  build  a  worthy  struc- 
ture for  them  at  public  expense  to  the  right  of  the  palaz- 
zo.  On  October  12,  1325,  the  corner-stone  was  laid 
with  the  usual  religious  ceremony,  after  which,  accord- 
ing to  an  ancient  chronicle,  messer  Ugo  de*  Fabbri, 
who  had  the  work  in  charge,  "put  into  the  foundation 
of  the  said  tower  some  pieces  of  money  .  .  .  and  set  in 
each  corner  a  stone  with  bits  of  writing  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin  letters  to  make  it  safe  against  injury 
from  thunder,  lightning,  and  tempest."*  Thus  did 
messer  Ugo  de'  Fabbri,  convinced,  like  every  good 
mediaeval  Christian,  of  the  powers  of  necromancy, 
make  shrewd  double  provision  for  the  security  and  long 
life  of  his  enterprise.  In  connection  with  the  tower  the 
whole  wing  of  the  palace  adjoining  it  underwent  changes 
both  of  adjustment  and  enlargement.  This  had  be- 
come pressingly  necessary  because  the  quarters  of  the 
potesta  had  been  found  too  small  for  him  and  his  numer- 
ous suite.  For  some  reason  the  progress  was  slow, 
for  we  find  that  the  potesta  did  not  take  possession  ot 
his  improved  residence  till  the  year  1330,  and  that  in 
1338  the  tower  had  not  yet  risen  above  the  walls  of  the 
palace.  Only  then  the  work  began  in  earnest  on  what 

*  The  original  is  delightful:  ".  .  .  e  fuwi  messa  in  ogni  canto  una  pietra 
co'  lettare  ebraiche  greche  e  latine,  perche  non  fosse  percossa  ne  da  tuono,  nfe 
da  sastta,  ne  da  tempesta."  Chronicle  in  Biblioteca  Comunale,  Cod.  A., 
Ill,  26,  c.  83. 


298  SIENA 

the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  the  lovers  of  art  proclaims 
to  be  the  most  beautiful  tower  of  Italy.  Signor  Lisini 
has  discovered  that  its  architects  were  two  Perugians, 
Minuccio  di  Rinaldo  and  Francesco,  his  brother,  who 
were,  however,  superseded  before  the  completion  of 
their  work.  The  noble  ornament  of  gray  stone,  which 
crowns  the  slender  shaft  of  brick,  or  rather  issues  from 
it  as  naturally  and  gracefully  as  the  lily  bursts  from  its 
sheaf,  was  completed  after  a  plan  furnished  by  the 
painter,  Lippo  Memmi.  In  the  year  1344  the  tower 
was  put  into  service  and  the  citizens  let  their  work  rest 
for  a  moment  to  listen  joyfully  as  the  first  bell  sent  its 
clamorous  summons  from  a  height  of  almost  three 
hundred  feet.*  During  the  next  years  the  final  touches 
were  added  and  some  changes  introduced,  of  which  I 
note  only  one  because  it  furnished  the  tower  with  its 
curious  name.  A  mechanism,  built  in  imitation  of  a 
man,  was  installed  aloft  to  strike  the  hours,  and  to  this 
man  of  wood,  replaced  afterward  by  a  more  splendid 
one  of  brass,  the  people  humorously  gave  the  name  of 
the  live  bell-ringer  whom  the  too  inventive  spirit  of  the 
age  had  deprived  of  his  occupation.  The  supplanted 
bell-ringer  seems  to  have  been  something  of  a  butt 
among  the  loungers  that  gathered  in  the  wine-shops, 
and  went  among  them  by  the  amusing  name  of  Mangia- 
guadagni  or  spendthrift.  The  designation  of  Man- 
giaguadagni,  or  Mangia  for  short,  was  presently 
transferred  to  the  automaton,  and,  in  the  course  of 
time,  attached  itself  to  the  whole  tower,  known  there- 
fore to  this  day  as  la  torre  del  Mangia.^ 

*  To  be  exact  the  tower  measures  86$  meters. 

t  This  luminous  explanation  of  the  name  Mangia  originated  with  Lisini, 
"Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  I,  26. 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  299 

And  still  the  work  of  supplying  the  growing  public 
needs  with  buildings  specially  constructed  for  the 
purpose  continued.  The  prisoners  of  the  town,  who 
had  been  miserably  housed  in  narrow  rented  quarters 
that,  apart  from  the  memories  clinging  to  them  of  name- 
less horrors,  were  veritable  breeding  places  of  pestilence, 
were  in  the  year  1330  transferred  to  the  first  municipally 
owned  prison,  erected  behind  the  palace  of  the  potesta; 
and,  shortly  after  1342,  a  new  and  vast  hall  for  the 
General  Council  was  raised  over  the  gloomy  rows  of 
cells.  Such  an  association,  amounting  almost  to  physi- 
cal contact  between  the  rulers  of  society  and  its 
broken  victims,  would  be  intolerable  to  our  feeling, 
but  seems  to  have  aroused  no  comment  among  a  gen- 
eration of  men  endowed  with  enviable  nerves  of 
iron.  The  great  sola  del  consiglio  was  in  the  bureau- 
cratic sixteenth  century,  which  had  neither  under- 
standing nor  reverence  for  the  relics  of  a  free  society, 
reduced  to  a  theatre,  and  gradually  put  through  such 
changes  as  to  obliterate  every  feature  of  its  original 
style. 

To  render  complete  the  history  of  the  palazzo,  I  must 
add  a  word  touching  the  outer  chapel  at  the  foot  of  the 
Mangia  tower,  the  capella  di  piazza.  This  chapel  owes 
its  origin  to  a  vow  addressed  to  the  Virgin  during  the 
grande  mortalita  of  1348,  but  its  construction  was  not 
begun  till  four  years  later.  Owing  to  muddling,  both 
official  and  professional,  it  long  defied  completion,  and 
was  at  length,  in  an  access  of  despair,  covered  with  a 
temporary  roof  at  the  height  of  the  capitals.  Not  till  a 
century  later,  in  the  period  of  the  Renaissance,  was  the 
work  again  taken  in  hand,  and  being  entrusted  to  the 


300  SIENA 

capable  Federighi,  was  soon  vaulted  over  and  finished 
with  pleasing  decorations,  chief  among  them  an  effective 
frieze  of  gryphons  (1468-70). 

At  last  I  have  arrived  at  the  end  of  this  long-spun 
and  complicated  story  of  a  municipal  structure  which 
took  one  hundred  and  fifty  and  more  years  to  bring  to 
completion.  This  deliberate  procedure,  while  corre- 
sponding to  the  slow  economic  expansion  of  the  medi- 
aeval commune,  also  gives  the  measure  of  the  very 
gradual  manner  in  which  the  consciousness  of  a  new 
society  and  its  needs  dawned  upon  those  blindly  groping 
generations.  The  rich  experience  of  the  many  subse- 
quent centuries,  laid  down  in  an  effective  science  of 
government  and  in  a  knowledge  of  mechanics  which 
laughs  at  difficulties,  has  changed  completely  our  man- 
ner of  approach  to  the  problem  of  providing  a  fit  home 
for  our  ruling  bodies.  A  modern  architect  would  under- 
take to  erect  and  finish  a  building  of  much  greater  bulk 
than  the  Sienese  palazzo  in  less  than  a  year.  But  would 
he,  so  infinitely  superior  in  the  means  at  his  command, 
venture  to  promise  that  it  will  endure  as  long,  and  be  an 
object  of  beauty  and  a  source  of  joy  six  centuries  after 
the  laying  of  its  corner-stone  ? 

The  palace  of  Siena,  composed  of  a  central  mass  and 
wings  and  flanked  by  the  tower  which  soars  upward 
like  an  arrow  released  from  the  bow,  ranks  with  the 
great  municipal  residences  of  the  Middle  Age.  The 
forms  which  it  employs — the  pointed  arches  of  the  ground 
floor,  the  ample  three-light  windows,  the  square  battle- 
ments— speak  the  common  language  of  the  Gothic 
period,  but  they  are  so  combined  and  modified  by  local 
sentiment  as  to  result  in  a  highly  idiomatic  creation. 


THE  CIVIC  SPIRIT  301 

The  union  of  stone  in  the  lower  story  with  brick  in  the 
superstructure  has  produced  a  delightful  variation  of 
surface,  which  is  a  subtle  source  of  pleasure  to  the  eye. 
The  final  grace,  however,  is  conferred  upon  the  palace 
by  its  position  on  the  Campo.  This  remarkable  square, 
which,  as  already  observed,  may  owe  its  shape  to  a 
preexisting  Roman  forum,  is  neither  quite  an  oval  nor 
quite  a  semicircle.  Its  capricious  refusal  to  be  classi- 
fied under  any  known  geometric  form  is  one  of  its  charms, 
to  which  must  be  added  the  natural  tilt  of  the  ground 
toward  the  Palazzo  Pubblico.  As  the  entrance  to  the 
Campo  is  from  the  elevated  ridges  which  meet  in  the 
Croce  di  Travaglio,  the  communal  palace  with  its 
battlemented  sky-line,  its  gloriously  patinated  surface, 
and  its  slender  tower  is  placed  at  just  the  point  where 
it  presents  itself  to  view  with  the  greatest  possible 
effectiveness.  Strange  to  say  the  houses  fronting  on  the 
Campo,  though  they  have  for  the  most  part  gone 
through  modernizations,  especially  as  regards  the 
windows,  hardly  attenuate,  by  reason  of  their  wise 
subordination  to  the  palace,  the  consistent  mediaeval 
impression  of  this  square.  In  the  days  of  the  republic 
when,  owing  to  a  formal  ordinance,  Gothic  windows  a 
colonelli  prevailed  around  the  whole  enclosure,*  the 
effect  must  have  been  magnificent. 

The  ordinance  just  referred  to,  enforcing  the  style 
of  the  municipal  residence  upon  the  houses  of  the 
Campo,  may  account  for  the  fact  that  this  building 
served  as  the  model  for  the  private  palaces  throughout 
the  city.  In  such  edifices,  raised  shortly  after  the 

*  The  ordinance  in  question  was  passed  in  1297.  Borghesi  and  Bane  hi, 
"Nuovi  Documenti,"  etc. 


302  SIENA 

Palazzo  Pubblico,  in  the  period  of  the  Nine,  Siena  is 
peculiarly  rich.  To  pass  them  in  review — the  tall, 
inscrutable  Palazzo  Tolomei,  the  rude  and  yet  distin- 
guished Palazzo  Saracini,  the  Palazzo  Sansedoni,  set 
in  the  high  fellowship  of  the  Campo  and  washed  with 
soft  pink  as  from  a  perpetual  dawn,  the  Palazzo 
Grottanelli,  splendid  with  the  coats  of  arms  of  its 
former  residents,  the  Captains  of  War,  the  Palazzo 
Salimbeni  with  its  air  of  feudal  insolence,  the  Palazzo 
Buonsignori  crowned  with  beautiful  battlements — is  to 
receive  an  overwhelming  impression  of  the  fourteenth 
century  greatness  of  this  city.  These  buildings,  one 
and  all,  rest  architecturally  upon  the  communal  palace: 
they  employ  the  same  materials  of  construction  with  a 
frank  preference  for  brick;  they  exhibit  the  same  Gothic 
ornaments;  but  each  one  is  so  entirely  free  in  its  use  of 
what  it  borrows  that  the  result  never  fails  to  be  artistic 
and  original.  Concerning  the  Tolomei  palace,  and 
concerning  it  alone,  a  doubt  may  reasonably  be  enter- 
tained touching  the  asserted  derivation  from  the  Palazzo 
Pubblico.  The  residence  of  the  Tolomei,  perhaps 
the  most  wonderful  of  all  by  reason  of  the  union  of  great 
simplicity  with  fine  proportions,  is  declared  by  an  ancient 
chronicler  to  have  been  begun  in  the  year  1208,  that 
is,  several  generations  before  the  palace  on  the  Campo.* 
The  same  chronicler  speaks,  too,  of  subsequent  injuries 
suffered  through  fire  and  political  malice.  The  evi- 
dence still  supplied  to  the  eye  would  seem  to  show  that 
there  was  an  early  Romanesque  palace  from  which  the 
present  structure  derives  its  general  frame  of  stone, 

*  Muratori,  XV,  "Cronaca  Sanese,"  ad  annum.     "Fecesi  el  Palagio  de' 
Talomei." 


Wrought-iron  Gate  of  the  Chapel  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  30,3 

especially  the  tall  first  story  and  the  fine  lions  of  the 
lintels,  but  that  it  underwent  important  changes  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  when  it  received  its  Gothic  im- 
print, noticeable,  above  all,  in  the  windows  with  their 
graceful  tracery. 

A  body  of  courageous  citizens,  who  had  built  through 
generations  and  with  many  sacrifices  a  cathedral  and  a 
municipal  residence,  were  sure  to  address  themselves 
with  proportionate  energy  to  all  minor  public  works. 
Chief  among  them  in  a  city  situated  like  Siena  were  the 
fountains.  They  had  received  the  care  of  the  parishes 
and  neighborhood  associations  long  before  there  was 
a  commune,  and,  naturally,  with  the  rise  of  the  com- 
mune, their  improvement  became  one  of  the  chief 
objects  of  the  new  government.  In  fact,  among  the 
earliest  notices  we  possess  of  Siena  is  a  reference  to 
Fonte  Branda.  An  inscription,  still  imbedded  in  the 
wall  of  this  fountain,  informs  us  that  one  Bellaminus 
built  it  in  the  year  1193,  while  a  second  inscription  of 
1246  makes  mention  of  additional  labors  of  construc- 
tion, a  reference  presumably  to  the  heavy  stone  vault 
which  encloses  the  work.*  Fonte  Branda  was  an 
exceptionally  handsome  fountain  in  its  day,  with  a 
copious  flow  constantly  enriched  by  the  extension  of  the 
subterranean  aqueducts  upon  which  it  depends  for  its 
supply  of  water.  In  modern  times  it  has  lost  its  battle- 
ments and  has  acquired  a  squat  and  inelegant  appear- 
ance through  the  burying  of  its  piers  to  over  half  their 
length  by  the  gradual  filling  in  of  the  soil,  but  Dante 


*  For  the  history  of  Fonte  Branda  and  of  every  other  fountain  of  Siena, 
the  reader  may  turn  to  the  scholarly  work  of  Bargagli-Petrucci,  "Le  Fonti  di 
Siena";  for  Fonte  Branda  in  particular,  see  Vol.  I, 


304  SIENA 

gives  ample  evidence  that  its  fame  in  the  days  of  its 
splendor  had  gone  over  Italy.* 

Other  fountains,  similarly  enclosed  in  walls  and 
heavily  vaulted,  lend  picturesque  touches  to  various 
quarters  of  the  town.  Around  the  great  open  basins 
may  be  seen  at  all  hours  of  the  day  the  women  of  the 
neighborhood,  gay  with  colored  kerchiefs  and  chattering 
merrily  as  they  bend  over  the  household  washing. 
Such  fountains  are  Fonte  Nuova  in  Vallerozzi,  Fonte 
d'Ovile  outside  the  gate  of  that  name,  and  Fonte 
Follonica,  left  in  a  romantic  abandonment  amidst  the 
kitchen  gardens  behind  Santo  Spirito.  A  fountain  of  a 
different  kind,  not  meant  so  much  to  serve  the  needs  of 
the  citizens  as  to  give  expression  to  their  love  of  home 
and  their  passion  for  beauty,  was  the  celebrated  foun- 
tain of  the  Campo.  That  it  should  have  occurred  to 
an  artistic  people  to  add  to  a  square,  which  was  their 
pride,  the  charm  of  running  water  is  not  strange.  The 
difficulty  was  to  find  the  requisite  supply.  In  the  year 
1334  work  was  begun  to  collect  water  by  means  of 
subterranean  channels  outside  Porta  Camollia,  and 
after  a  heavy  expenditure  of  money  and  labor,  a  thin 
stream  at  last  issued  forth  upon  the  Campo  (1343)- 
It  was  enough  to  loose  a  bedlam  of  joy.  For  fifteen 
days,  we  are  told,  the  citizens  held  carnival,  instituting 
games  and  dancing  in  companies  amidst  music  and 
laughter  through  the  streets.f  They  were  a  light- 

*  The  man  in  hell,  agonized  by  thirst,  would  rather  see  his  enemies  at  his 
side  suffering  his  pain  than  have  all  the  waters  of  Fonte  Branda:  per  Fonte 
Branda  non  darei  la  vista.  "Inf.,"  XXX,  76-78.  Petrucci  seems  to  prove 
successfully  that  the  reference  is  to  the  Sienese  fountain  and  not  to  one  of  the 
same  name  in  the  Casentino. 

t  Muratori,  XV,  "Cronaca  Sanese,"  106.  ".  .  .  e  per  la  delta  cagione 
si  fece  tanta  allegrezza  in  Siena  e  tanti  balli  .  .  .  che  sarabbe  incredibile  a 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  305 

hearted  folk,  the  mediaeval  Sienese,  and  never  let  an 
occasion  for  merry-making  escape.  After  this  there 
could  be  but  one  name  for  the  new  fountain:  it  was 
called  Fonte  Gaia.  A  drop  of  wormwood  in  the  full 
goblet  was  the  meagre  flow,  which  the  signoria  set 
itself  to  remedy  by  an  ever  renewed  search  for  springs 
along  the  northern  ridge.  Early  in  the  fifteenth  century 
the  government  resolved  to  transform  the  receptacle  in 
the  central  square  into  a  magnificent  structure  of 
marble.  By  a  fortunate  coincidence  the  right  man  for 
the  work  was  close  at  hand,  Jacopo  della  Quercia, 
a  Sienese  citizen  and  one  of  the  greatest  names  of 
Italian  art.  After  a  labor  often  years,  often  interrupted 
by  the  need  of  his  restless  genius  to  engage  in  a  variety 
of  enterprises,  Jacopo  completed,  in  the  year  1419,  such 
a  monument  as  was  boasted  in  the  Middle  Age  neither 
by  imperial  Rome,  ever  echoing  with  the  murmur  of 
water,  nor  by  Venice,  maid  of  the  sea.  However,  in 
the  course  of  the  ages  Jacopo's  fountain  suffered  such 
serious  injury  that  to  avoid  total  destruction  it  had,  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  to  be  removed  from  the  Campo. 
Its  remnants  may  now  be  seen  in  an  environment  that 
could  not  have  been  better  chosen,  the  upper  loggia  of 
the  Palazzo  Pubblico.  The  broken  pieces,  like  a  Greek 
torso  recovered  after  centuries  from  a  temple  ruin,  are 
touched  with  imperishable  beauty. 

An  appreciable  factor  in  the  mediaeval  impression 
still  conveyed  by  Siena  are  her  walls  and  gates.  Natu- 
rally they  were  an  early  and  a  constant  preoccupation 


dire  e  a  credere  chi  non  1'  avesse  veduto;  che  quasi  ciascuna  Arte  otto  dl 
prima  e  otto  di  poi  per  se  fece  una  brigata  .  .  .  ballando  e  danzando  e 
cantando  per  la  citta  insino  alia  notte." 


306  SIENA 

of  a  republic  surrounded  by  enemies.  This  is  not  the 
place  to  discuss  the  difficult  question  of  the  successive 
extensions  due  to  the  growth  of  the  city.  Malavolti,* 
beginning  with  the  Etruscan  castle,  speaks  of  six 
circles  of  walls,  which,  of  course,  is  not  to  be  taken 
literally  but  to  be  interpretated  as  referring  to  six 
distinct  periods  of  enlargement.f  In  any  case,  when 
we  reach  the  days  of  her  power  under  the  Nine,  Siena 
had  substantially  the  walls  and  gates  of  to-day.  Minor 
portals  have  been  closed,  the  principal  ones  have  under- 
gone repairs  and  alterations,  but  the  fourteenth  century 
is  still  forcefully  impressed  on  the  defences  behind 
which  she  defied  her  foes.  The  Porta  Romana,  the 
Porta  de'  Pispini,  and  the  Antiporta  of  Camollia,  a 
single  round  arch  of  magnificent  sweep,  have  that  pre- 
cious quality  called  character,  which,  if  not  identical 
with  beauty,  bears  a  close  kinship  to  it.  To  receive  the 
message  which  Siena  conveys  it  is  necessary  to  have 
looked  at  her  gates  with  reverence,  as  it  is  also  necessary 
to  have  walked  around  her  walls,  especially  the  pictu- 
resque stretch  from  Ovile  to  Pispini.  Whoever  has 
followed  in  an  afternoon's  excursion  their  sudden 
plunge  and  ascent  along  their  broken  path,  and  soothed 
his  senses  with  their  perfect  tone  of  pink  and  gray,  will 
have  mastered  one  of  the  secrets  of  the  spell  exercised 
by  the  ancient  city. 

In  the  fifteenth  century  the  vital  force  of  Siena,  which 
had  been  visibly  failing  for  some  time,  still  showed  itself 

*  Malavolti,  Prima  parte,  13,  15,  21,  etc. 

t  Bargagli-Petrucci,  "  Le  Fonti  di  Siena,"  has  a  map  at  the  end  of  Volume  I 
in  which  he  gives  with  admirable  clearness  his  version  of  the  six  circles.  He 
also  traces  a  seventh  and  last  circle,  resulting  from  the  construction  in  the 
sixteenth  century  of  the  fortezza  di  S.  Barbara. 


THE   CIVIC  SPIRIT  307 

in  occasional  creative  outbursts.  Such  a  one  is  asso- 
ciated with  Jacopo  della  Quercia's  fountain;  at  the 
same  time,  but  with  different  artistic  result,  was  built 
the  Loggia  della  Mercanzia  (1416),  fronting  the  Croce 
di  Travaglio,  and  hardly  to  be  found  other  than  heavy 
and  ill-proportioned  by  the  side  of  the  great  Florentine 
loggia  with  which  it  naturally  invites  comparison.  For 
some  years  now  conspicuous  enterprises  ceased  till, 
shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  been 
passed,  there  was  a  brief  stir  of  architectural  activity  due 
to  the  impulse  of  a  single  man,  the  famous  Sienese  pope 
of  the  Piccolomini  family,  Pius  II.  Then  were  built 
the  charming  Piccolomini  Loggia,  the  Palazzo  Picco- 
lomini, the  Palazzo  Nerucci,  and  the  Palazzo  Spannoc- 
chi,  all  planned  either  by  Florentine  architects  or  by 
architects  under  Florentine  influence.  These  splendid 
structures  give  the  Renaissance  touch  to  Siena  which 
no  one  would  care  to  miss;  nevertheless,  they  not  only 
represent  an  artistic  importation,  but  are  impotent  to 
drown  the  mediaeval  note  so  formidably  struck  by  the 
city's  ensemble.* 

Thus  through  continued  efforts,  chiefly  of  the  thir- 
teenth and  fourteenth  centuries,  was  Siena  endowed 
with  the  various  monuments  which  are  the  expression 
in  durable  material  of  her  character  and  history.  Add 
the  humble  but  never  unsightly  houses  of  brick  and 

*  It  must  strike  the  reader's  attention  how  little  the  churches,  apart  always 
from  the  cathedral,  count  in  this  ensemble.  That  is  due  to  a  variety  of 
reasons.  In  the  first  place  the  two  great  houses  of  the  begging  orders,  S. 
Francesco  and  S.  Domenico,  are  architecturally  of  little  or  no  interest,  being 
nothing  more  than  huge  barns;  and,  further,  the  very  ancient  parish  churches, 
such  as  S.  Vigilio,  S.  Cristofano,  and  S.  Martino,  which,  if  small  and  rude, 
must  have  possessed  a  definite  mediaeval  character,  were  in  the  Renaissance 
centuries  done  over  in  the  prevailing  style. 


308  SIENA 

stone  along  the  sharp  slopes  and  winding  streets  by 
which  the  poorer  classes  gradually  replaced  the  wooden 
dwellings  of  an  earlier  time,  and  we  have  before  us  the 
picture  of  the  commune  at  the  height  of  its  destiny. 
If  our  hearts  are  moved  by  this  age-browned  city,  lying 
high  upon  its  hill  and  lifting  up  its  white  cathedral  like 
a  shrine  of  pearl,  it  is  not  merely  because  our  imagina- 
tion readily  makes  a  romance  of  the  past,  but  because 
we  perceive  in  its  strong  and  ordered  masonry  the  ad- 
mirable effects  of  a  creative  civic  spirit. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT   AND   THE   ADORNMENT 
OF   THE   CITY 

OWING  to  the  cosmopolitanism  of  our  time,  with 
its  growing  tendency  to  obliterate  mental 
boundaries  and  create  a  uniform  civilization, 
the  purely  national  element  in  a  work  of  art  is  not  as 
prominent  as  it  once  was.  While  an  artistic  production 
is  received  by  us  primarily  in  the  light  of  a  personal 
statement  about  life,  in  the  Italian  Middle  Age  it 
represented  far  more  truly  the  version  current  among 
a  particular  school  or  group,  with  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  which  the  individual  artist  was  content 
to  be  fully  identified.  The  neighbors  of  shop  and 
street,  enclosed  by  the  same  wall,  constituted  the 
people  of  his  choice  and  love,  distinct  not  only 
politically  from  the  rival  peoples  established  in  the 
surrounding  towns,  but  differentiated  from,  them 
morally  and  mentally,  as  well  as  by  innumerable  peculiar- 
ities of  dress,  habit,  and  sentiment.  The  work  of  the 
mediaeval  artist  possesses  therefore  in  the  highest  degree 
the  flavor  of  the  immediate  soil  from  which  it  sprang. 
This  idiomatic  result,  due  to  the  stubborn  self- 
sufficiency  of  the  early  commonwealths,  was  confirmed 
and  fortified  by  still  another  circumstance.  As  the 
communes  acquired  strength  and  vigor  they  set  them- 

309 


310  SIENA 

selves  as  one  of  their  chief  tasks  the  upbuilding  of  a 
home,  worthy,  noble,  and  beautiful.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  this  common  mediaeval  passion,  showing  how 
in  Siena  it  produced  the  cathedral,  the  Palazzo  Pubblico, 
and  the  whole  town  as  it  still  stands.  But  as  the 
national  enthusiasm  did  not  rest  here,  as  the  walls 
raised  by  the  architects  were  susceptible  to  the  manifold 
adornment  which  are  the  special  province  of  sculpture, 
painting,  and  the  minor  arts,  these  arts  no  less  than 
architecture,  and  certainly  to  an  extent  utterly  unknown 
in  our  day,  were  informed  with  the  civic  spirit  and 
moulded  to  its  uses  and  ideals.  In  view  of  these  cir- 
cumstances, which  bring  home  to  us  the  picture  of  a 
long  continued  isolation,  coupled  with  a  fiery  local 
passion,  it  is  not  strange  that  all  work  issuing  from  the 
botteghe  of  the  Sienese  artists  should  have  a  distinctive 
quality,  in  which  we  may,  without  falling  into  exag- 
geration, recognize  the  special  genius  of  the  Sienese 
commonwealth. 

The  identification  of  the  mediaeval  artist  with  the 
group  claiming  him  by  birth  is  fully  illustrated  by  the 
great  work  which  inaugurates  the  history  of  the  Sienese 
school  of  painting.*  I  am  speaking  of  Duccio  di 
Buoninsegna's  famous  Ancona,  painted  for  the  duomo 
and  enthroned  on  the  High  Altar,  directly  under  the 


*  The  literature  on  Sienese  painting  is  immense.  For  an  analysis  of  the 
aesthetic  elements  of  the  school  nothing  exists  to  compare  with  the  essay  of 
Berenson,  "The  Central  Italian  Painters  of  the  Renaissance."  On  the 
history  and  the  production  of  the  school  see  Milanesi,  "Documenti  per  la 
Storia  d'Arte  Senese";  Borghesi  and  Banchi,  "Nuovi  Documenti,"  etc.; 
Vasari,  "  Le  Vite  de'  piu  eccellenti  Pittori,"  etc.,  edited  by  Milanesi;  Langton 
Douglas,  "A  History  of  Siena,"  chap.  18;  Heywood  and  Olcott,  "Guide 
to  Siena,"  Part  II;  Burckhardt,  "Der  Cicerone,"  9*e  Auflage;  E.  H.  and  E. 
W.  Blashfield,  "Italian  Cities."  Vol.  L 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  311 

cupola,  in  the  year  1311.  There  was  painting  in  Siena 
before  Duccio's  day,  enough  to  have  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  very  active  guild  of  the  practitioners  of  the  art, 
but,  judging  by  its  best  known  work,  the  madonna  by 
one  Guido  da  Siena,  hanging  in  the  Palazzo  Pubblico, 
it  was  without  any  special  significance.  Duccio  first 
blew  Guide's  poor  embers  into  flame  and  is  the  true 
founder  of  Sienese  painting.  Guido,  his  predecessor, 
and  the  long  line  of  earlier  craftsmen  in  whose  tracks 
Guido  followed,  were  the  degenerate  heirs  who  ad- 
ministered with  laughable  ineptitude  the  great  pat- 
rimony of  the  Byzantine  Greeks.  Ages  before,  in  the 
fifth  and  sixth  centuries,  this  people,  spanning  the 
Bosphorus  at  the  meeting-point  of  East  and  West,  had 
developed  out  of  Asiatic  and  Hellenic  elements  a  new 
decorative  system  which  for  richness  and  solemnity  of 
effect  has  rarely  been  surpassed.  At  Ravenna,  hailed 
as  bride  of  the  Adriatic  until  displaced  by  mounting 
Venice,  the  eastern  artists  worked  for  several  genera- 
tions and  to  such  good  effect  that  we  may  still,  by  a  visit 
to  that  marsh-encircled  town,  assure  ourselves  that  a 
Greek  mosaic  of  the  early  Christian  era,  set  together  of 
little  cubes  of  colored  glass,  has  not  only  a  permanency 
—itself  no  mean  merit  in  a  work  of  art — but  a  glow 
and  majesty  which  takes  possession  of  our  delighted 
senses  like  orchestral  music.  No  artists  have  ever 
achieved  more  with  pure  color  than  these  Christian 
Greeks;  their  designs,  on  the  other  hand,  while  fulfilling, 
at  least  in  the  earlier  examples,  the  minor  part  reserved 
for  them  in  the  general  effect,  tended  to  become,  as  the 
years  rolled  on,  more  and  more  conventionalized,  and 
the  human  figures  in  them  increasingly  stiff,  lifeless, 


312  SIENA 

and  hieratic.  In  the  mosaics  of  Ravenna,  Rome,  and 
many  scattered  places  we  may  recognize  the  models  as 
well  as  the  starting-point  of  Italian  painting.  However, 
under  the  disintegrating  influences  of  the  Germanic 
conquest  and  settlement,  the  young  art  failed  to  take 
firm  root,  and,  though  imitating  the  eastern  productions, 
soon  lost  all  sense  of  the  Byzantine  graces  of  form  and 
color,  and  ended  in  producing  those  palsied  and  revolt- 
ing Christs-upon-the-cross,  examples  of  which  are  to  be 
found  in  the  early  rooms  of  every  Italian  museum. 
Although  Guido  da  Siena's  madonna,  which  bears  an 
inscription  with  the  date  1221 — a  date,  by  the  way, 
which  most  authorities  look  upon  as  impossible,  pre- 
fering  to  substitute  for  it  1284  * — enjoys  the  distinction 
of  marking  a  reaction  from  the  prolonged  and  intolerable 
degradation  of  the  graphic  arts,  the  painter's  improve- 
ment is  not  sufficient  to  carry  him  forward  into  a  land 
of  promise.  That  step  was  reserved  to  Duccio.f  Did 
Duccio  in  his  youth  have  under  his  eyes  by  any  chance 
the  old  mosaics  of  Ravenna  and  Rome,  or  did  he  go 
further  and  travel  to  distant  Constantinople  to  appren- 
tice himself  to  some  Greek  master  in  whose  shop  the 
majestic  traditions  of  his  craft  were  still  current  ? 
These  questions,  imposed  by  the  character  of  the  young 
innovator's  work,  have  been  frequently  put,  but  belong 
to  the  realm  of  conjecture.  What  is  certain  and  beyond 
conjecture  is  that  Duccio  somehow  and  somewhere  quick- 
ened his  spirit  and  steadied  his  hand  by  contact  with  the 
genius  of  Byzantium.  To  be  sure  he  did  not  work  in 

*  On  this  controversy  see  Langton  Douglas,  "Siena,"  481  ff. 

f  Duccio  was  active  in  Siena  a's  early  as  1278,  and  probably  died  shortly 
after  1313.  See  for  a  few  certain  facts,  extracted  from  the  public  records, 
the  article  by  Lisini,  "Bull.  Sen.,"  V,  20  ff. 


THE  ARTISTIC   SPIRIT  313 

mosaic,  but  in  the  slighter  and  more  fluid  medium  of 
paint,  which  had  succeeded  to  the  favor  once  enjoyed 
by  the  colored  cubes.  But  his  painting  is  for  all  the 
world  like  a  mosaic  which,  in  the  course  of  its  transfer 
from  an  ancient  wall  or  apse,  has,  not  without  some 
paling  of  its  glorious  surface,  acquired  a  greater  freedom 
of  line  and  a  closer  relationship  to  the  actual  forms  of  life. 
While  Duccio  renewed  the  art  of  painting  and  became 
the  father  of  a  school,  down  in  the  Arno  valley,  at  Flor- 
ence, a  similar  mission  was  fulfilled  by  Giotto,  son  of 
Bondone.  Because  Giotto,  giver  of  life  to  the  school 
of  Florence,  was  somewhat  younger  than  Duccio,  it  has 
been  urged  by  occasional  partisans  that  the  school  of 
Siena  enjoys  a  clear  priority  over  its  Florentine  rival 
and  must  stand  at  the  head  of  every  history  of  Italian 
painting.  That  was  not  the  view  of  Messer  Giorgio 
Vasari,  the  first  great  historian  of  the  arts,  who,  though 
an  Aretine  by  birth,  became  a  passionate  partisan  of 
the  greatness  of  Florence,  his  city  by  adoption.  On  the 
strength  of  the  reputation  of  a  certain  Cimabue,  named 
by  Dante  as  the  forerunner  of  Giotto  and  older  by  a 
generation  than  Sienese  Duccio,  he  imperiously  as- 
signed all  the  credit  for  reviving  what  he  called  "the 
noble  art  of  design"  to  his  fellow-citizens  of  Florence. 
He  would  have  it  that  painting  is  specifically  a  Floren- 
tine invention,  and  the  school  of  Siena  no  more  than 
the  seedling  of  a  famous  stock.  But  unhappily  Cima- 
bue, in  spite  of  Vasari's  generously  inventing  a  life  for 
him  and  of  supplementing  the  act  by  a  liberal  catalogue 
of  works,  has,  under  the  searchlight  of  modern  criti- 
cism, shrunk  to  such  an  extent  that  not  a  single  authori- 
tative painting  remains  to  make  him  credible  and 


314  SIENA 

real.*  With  Cimabue  eliminated  from  the  argument,  at 
least  until  new  facts  come  to  light,  the  wordy  war  between 
the  champions  of  Florence  and  Siena,  touching  the  age  of 
their  respective  schools,  would  appear  to  settle  itself,  if 
that  were  anything  gained.  For  the  student,  however, 
whose  mind  turns  instinctively  to  essentials,  the  question 
of  priority — a  question  of  dates — is  of  little  importance. 
He  will  gladly  dismiss  every  mere  querelle  allemande  to 
fix  his  attention  upon  such  simple  and  indubitable  facts 
as  these,  to  wit,  that  Duccio  and  Giotto  are  the 
acknowledged  originators  of  two  splendid  schools  of 
painting,  that  they  are  to  all  intents  contemporaries, 
and  that  they  are  independent  and  largely  self-inspired 
workers.  Independent,  I  say,  for  Giotto,  though 
somewhat  younger  than  Duccio,  did  not  fall  under  the 
influence  and  was  not  the  plagiarist  the  Sienese  master, 
but  strove  to  give  expression  to  the  forms  of  his  imagina- 
tion by  following  the  light  of  his  own  soul.  In  the 
course  of  his  long  self-education  he  did  not  turn  back 
to  the  Byzantine  world;  something  imposed  itself  on 
him  more  imperatively  than  the  work  of  the  Greeks, 
and  that  was  nature  herself.  He  dipped  into  the 
fulness  of  life  and  by  so  doing  opened  a  book 
from  which  his  countrymen,  hailing  him  as  their 
leader,  drew  their  chief  joy  and  profit  for  many  genera- 
tions to  come.  Duccio,  thrilling  to  the  wonders  of 
Byzantium,  became  a  decorator  with  only  a  languid 
interest  in  the  natural  world,  and  his  followers  of  Siena, 
receiving  their  inspiration  from  him,  remained  for  the 
two  hundred  years  the  school  flourished,  decorators 

*  For  the  case  against  Cimabue  see  an  article  by  Langton  Douglas  in  the 
"Nineteenth  Century"  of  March,  1903. 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  315 

also,  who  only  now  and  then,  and  always  with  something 
akin  to  distaste,  turned  to  refresh  their  splendid  though 
formalized  art  by  contact  with  the  shapes  and  move- 
ments of  animate  life. 

Duccio's  altar-piece  owes  its  origin  to  the  commune, 
which,  ever  solicitous  for  the  great  cathedral  erected  by 
its  efforts,  wished  to  make  that  structure  as  beautiful 
in  all  details  as  lay  in  the  power  of  the  age  to  accomplish. 
As  the  cathedral  was  dedicated  to  the  Virgin,  it  was 
highly  proper  that  her  image  should  adorn  her  temple. 
The  task  was  assigned  to  Duccio  by  a  sort  of  referendum 
of  his  countrymen  who,  weary  of  the  tortured  and 
meaningless  figures  of  the  old  art,  found  themselves 
carried  away  by  the  novelty  and  charm  imparted  to  his 
panels  by  the  new  master  in  their  midst.  However, 
though  enjoying  the  fame  of  a  bold  innovator,  not  till 
he  undertook  the  Ancona  of  the  Virgin  did  Duccio  reach 
the  full  expression  of  his  talent.  It  was  the  national 
undertaking,  performed  with  all  Siena  looking  on,  that 
gave  him  his  inspiration  and  made  him  the  founder  of  a 
school.  The  work,  which  the  solid  and  thrifty  rulers, 
with  fine  disregard  of  cost  in  such  an  enterprise,  urged 
him  to  make  as  splendid  as  lay  in  his  power,  was 
assigned  to  him  in  1308  and  was  completed  in  less  than 
three  years.  Then,  the  long  labor  done,  the  artist 
added,  by  way  of  signature,  an  inscription  which  has  the 
faint,  delicate  fragrance  of  that  loveliest  product  of 
monastic  Christianity,  the  Fioretti  of  St.  Francis. 
"Holy  Mother  of  God,"  it  reads,  "give  Siena  peace  and 
Duccio  life  because  he  painted  Thee  thus."*  On  the 

*  "Mater  Sancta  Dei  Sis  Causa  Senis  Requiei  Sis  Duccio  Vita  Te  Quia 
Pinxit  Ita." 


316  SIENA 

appointed  day  the  great  altar-piece  was  carried  to  the 
house  of  the  Virgin;  and,  a  contemporary  chronicler 
recounts,  "the  bishop  ordered  a  great  and  devout 
company  of  priests  and  friars  to  attend  in  solemn  pro- 
cession the  Signori  Nove  and  all  the  officials  of  the 
commune  and  all  the  people;  and  all  the  greatest 
citizens  in  turn  with  lighted  candles  in  their  hands 
escorted  the  said  picture,  and  behind  them  followed  the 
women  and  children  with  much  devotion.  And  they  ac- 
companied the  said  picture  all  the  way  to  the  duomo,"* 
amidst  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the  blare  of  silver 
trumpets.  With  such  general  delight  did  the  Sienese 
receive  into  their  keeping  the  monumental  work  of 
their  fellow-citizen,  and  with  favor  and  reverence  they 
continued  to  look  upon  it  for  many  generations.  But  at 
last  a  new  taste  came  to  prevail,  and  in  the  sixteenth 
century  the  picture  was  removed  from  its  place  of 
honor  to  suffer  various  translocations  and  indignities 
until  in  our  time  it  has  found  a  resting-place,  incompar- 
ably better  than  the  ordinary  gallery,  in  the  quiet 
opera  del  duomo.  There  it  may  be  visited  with  that 
peace  of  mind  which  is  indispensable  to  its  under- 
standing. 

The  Ancona,  placed  on  the  High  Altar  under  the 
cupola  where  it  could  be  seen  from  the  front  and  from 
the  rear,  was  painted,  in  order  to  meet  this  situation,  on 
both  sides:  on  the  nave  side  with  the  Virgin  among  the 
hosts  of  heaven,  and  on  the  choir  side  with  more  than  a 
score  of  episodes  from  the  life  and  death  of  the  Saviour. 
In  addition,  there  were  the  usual  predella  and  several 
other  panels  with  Biblical  scenes,  inserted  at  various 

*"Cronaca   d'Anonimo."     Quoted   by   Lisini,    "Bull.   Sen.,"   V,    22. 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  317 

openings  in  the  elaborate  Gothic  frame,  for  what  Duccio 
presented  to  his  native  city  was  not  only  a  painting  but 
also  a  small  masterpiece  of  wood-carving  and  of  archi- 
tecture. In  the  course  of  the  wanderings,  imposed  by 
the  intolerant  taste  of  the  Renaissance,  the  beautiful 
frame  was  destroyed,  and  the  Ancona  itself  broken  into 
convenient  sections,  with  the  result  that  the  picture  now 
offered  to  view,  though  in  a  not  unsatisfactory  state  of 
preservation,  is  merely  the  disjecta  membra  of  the 
elaborate  composition  mounted  by  the  artist. 

The  body  of  the  altar-piece  represents  the  Virgin 
amidst  the  companies  of  heaven.  She  is  seated  on  her 
throne  with  the  divine  Child  before  her,  attended  by  a 
court  of  saints  and  angels  in  solemn,  ordered  rows. 
In  the  foreground  on  their  knees  are  four  members  of 
the  blessed  troop  particularly  dear  to  Siena — our  old 
friend,  Sant*  Ansano,  of  course,  among  them — begging 
her  favor  for  the  town  which  in  the  stormy  period  pre- 
ceding Montaperti  had  proclaimed  her  liege  and  sover- 
eign. Though  it  is  immediately  apparent  that  Duccio 
exhibited  in  this  picture  a  knowledge  of  his  craft  which 
was  nothing  short  of  revolutionary,  though  the  panel  is 
touched  with  such  rich  splendor  as  to  make  it  a  sensuous 
delight,  our  deepest  satisfaction  in  its  presence  springs 
not  from  these  sources,  but  from  the  sincere  and  unmis- 
takable revelation  which  it  affords  of  the  religious 
sentiment  of  the  Middle  Age.  We  are  often  told  by 
critics  of  a  scientific  bent  that  he  falls  into  egregious 
error  who  extracts  other  than  aesthetic  emotion  from  a 
work  of  art,  and  does  not  soberly  confine  his  attention  to 
such  elements  of  technical  skill  as  tone,  color,  line,  and 
composition.  Without  embarking  on  a  theoretical  dis- 


318  SIENA 

cussion  which  can  have  no  place  here,  it  may  be  catagor- 
ically  affirmed  that  followers  of  this  unbending  creed 
will  never  establish  a  simple  and  cordial  relation  with 
Duccio  and  his  school.  For,  though  a  thing  so  subtle 
as  to  defy  analysis,  the  fact  remains  that  the  rarest 
charm  and  most  lasting  distinction  of  Sienese  painting 
is  the  serene  atmosphere  of  Christian  sentiment  in  which 
it  is  steeped.  But  let  no  one  dream  that  Duccio's 
merit  is  exhausted  with  this  praise.  His  unreflecting 
and  instinctive  relation  to  the  gods  of  his  home  estab^ 
lishes  chiefly  his  quality  as  a  man;  as  an  artist  he  com- 
mands a  host  of  specifically  artistic  merits.  What  these 
are  can  any  one  doubt  who  will  surrender  himself  to  the 
impression  of  the  great  Ancona  ?  Gazing  with  open 
senses,  can  he  fail  to  respond  to  the  rich  glow  of  color, 
to  the  delicate  details,  and  to  the  stately  proportions  of 
the  composition  ?  Gold,  a  liquid  gold,  soft  as  evening 
waters,  fills  the  eye,  for  it  lies  upon  the  halos,  the  robes, 
the  background,  touching  everything  with  splendor; 
the  charming  patterns,  worked  with  the  passion  of  the 
miniaturist  into  mantles,  throne,  and  shield-like  aureoles 
enforce  the  note  of  gaiety;  and  any  loss  of  power  and 
simplicity  threatened  by  the  meticulous  elaboration  is 
entirely  overcome  by  the  large,  rhythmical  swing  of  the 
composition. 

When  we  turn  from  Duccio's  great  panel  of  the  en- 
throned Virgin  to  the  scenes  from  the  Passion  of  Christ 
—originally  the  reredos  of  the  great  Madonna — we 
perceive  at  a  glance  that  his  powers  were  not  suited  to 
this  particular  task.  No  doubt  these  panels,  too,  pos- 
sess the  charm  of  surface  which  Duccio's  brush  gave  to 
everything  it  touched;  nevertheless,  they  do  not — to  use 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  319 

a  term  familiar  to  artists — carry.  The  painter  who 
could  give  us  a  vision  of  the  Virgin  and  her  company  as 
moving  as  a  song,  on  turning  to  the  dramatic  episodes 
recounted  in  the  gospels,  immediately  lost  his  bear- 
ings: he  accumulates  facts,  he  wanders  among  ac- 
cessories, he  babbles  like  a  thought-free  child.  The 
swift,  clear  seizure  of  all  that  was  essential  in  a  given 
occurrence,  in  the  kiss  of  Judas,  in  the  scourging  of 
Christ,  in  everyone  of  the  familiar  and  always  marvellous 
scenes  of  the  Passion,  was  denied  him.  So  conspicuous 
a  failure  in  so  sure  a  hand  must  plunge  us  into  puzzled 
reflection.  Giotto,  working  at  Florence,  not  forty  miles 
away,  had,  in  a  degree  perhaps  never  matched  in  the 
history  of  art,  this  very  power  of  grasping  with  absolute 
precision  the  significance  of  a  human  event  and  render- 
ing it  with  the  minimum  of  effort.  Why  Giotto's  suc- 
cess and  Duccio's  failure  ?  Without  pretending  to 
solve  unfathomable  mysteries,  we  may  point  out  that 
the  respective  achievements  of  the  two  masters  accurately 
reflect  their  different  inspiration  and  original  proclivi- 
ties. Duccio,  looking  back  to  the  Byzantine  mosaicists, 
became  a  sumptuous  decorator  with  no  more  than  a 
child's  feeling  for  the  sweet  and  terrible  drama  of  exist- 
ence, while  Giotto,  the  naturalist,  who  moved  familiarly 
among  men  and  steeped  himself  in  all  their  grave  con- 
cerns, achieved  a  gift  of  swift  and  simple  statement 
summoning  our  attention  like  a  tocsin. 

During  the  time  Duccio  was  painting  his  altar-piece 
for  the  cathedral  the  civil  residence  of  the  commune 
was  completed  and  the  rulers,  animated  with  the  public 
spirit  with  which  we  are  now  familiar,  took  up  the  mat- 
ter of  its  ornamentation.  The  ideals  of  mediaeval  life 


320  SIENA 

emanated  so  largely  from  the  church  that  the  pictorial 
imagery  of  a  public  hall  no  less  than  that  of  a  house 
expressly  built  for  worship  would  be  determined  by 
religion.  When  to  Simone  Martini,  therefore,  was 
committed  a  wall  of  the  new  chamber  where  the  Great 
Council  of  the  citizens  was  wont  to  meet,  nothing  was 
more  natural  than  his  presenting  there,  just  as  Duccio 
had  done  in  the  duomo,  the  liege  Lady  of  Siena  with  her 
heavenly  attendants.  The  Majestas,  as  the  work  is 
nobly  called,  done  in  fresco  in  the  year  1315,*  still  sur- 
vives, though  considerably  impaired  by  the  ravages  of 
time.  Nevertheless,  neither  time  nor  the  more  wilful 
injuries  of  man  have  robbed  it  of  its  charm,  a  charm  so 
delicate  and  imponderable  that  to  express  it  in  words 
seems  like  a  vain  beating  of  the  air.  Simone,  it  is  plain, 
learned  his  art  from  Duccio,  but  by  the  force  of  genius 
was  enabled  to  go  far  beyond  his  master.  All  that 
makes  Duccio's  cathedral  panel  memorable  is  here,  too, 
but  in  every  instance  carried  to  a  fuller,  richer  expres- 
sion. Instead  of  Duccio's  splendor,  achieved  by  a 
profusion  of  gold-leaf,  Simone  gives  us  a  harmony, 
different  in  kind  but  as  effective  as  that  of  those  masters 
of  sensuous  charm,  the  Venetians.  For  with  the  younger 
artist  gold — a  rich  but  barbaric  medium,  when  all  is 
said — is  abandoned  for  color,  which  washes  the  draper- 
ies, throne,  and  faces  with  gay  and  delicate  tints, 
mounting  to  a  note  of  welcome  austerity  in  the  flat 
background,  blue  and  cool  and  deep  as  an  Italian  night. 
In  the  composition,  too,  Duccio's  rigorous  symmetry  has 
been  replaced  by  a  more  flowing  and  resourceful  treat- 

*  Owing  to  damage  done  by  the  humidity  exuding  from  the  neighboring 
government  salt-stores,  the  fresco  was  in  part  renewed  by  Simone  in  1321. 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  321 

ment,  revealed  in  a  less  mathematical  grouping  of  the 
saints  and  soldiery  of  heaven,  and  in  such  an  expressive 
detail  as  the  long  vertical  lines  of  the  poles  which  support 
the  canopy  of  the  throne  and  endow  the  picture  with  its 
agreeable  effect  of  height.  But,  elaborate  as  the  com- 
position is,  it  is  dominated  at  every  point  by  the  Ma- 
donna herself.  To  her,  hieratic  and  remote,  as  tradition 
would  have  her,  but  touched  for  the  first  time  in  Sienese 
art  with  something  of  human  grace,  the  eye  returns 
from  every  excursion  as  to  its  home  and  haven.  In 
Simone  we  meet  the  art  of  the  innovator  Duccio  carried 
to  its  perfection. 

And  what  the  opposite  wall  of  the  same  room  dis- 
closes will  only  confirm  that  impression.  There,  some 
years  later  (1328),  Simone  painted  the  equestrian 
portrait  of  Guidoriccio  da  Fogliano,  a  professional 
soldier  frequently  employed  by  the  republic  to  command 
its  army  in  time  of  war.  Such  a  portrait  signified  a 
departure  from  the  tradition  which  favored  the  exclusive 
presentation  of  religious  themes,  but  which  would 
inevitably  be  subjected  to  change  in  measure  as  art 
absorbed  new  elements  of  life.  Simone,  though  prac- 
tising painting  with  characteristic  Sienese  reverence  for 
the  past,  was  great  enough  to  be  afraid  neither  of  new 
ideas  nor  of  new  methods.  He  shows  us  Guidoriccio 
as  he  rides  abroad  before  Montemassi,  a  Maremma 
castle  which  had  risen  in  revolt  and  which  the  Sienese 
army  had  been  sent  to  subdue.  The  slight  landscape, 
showing  the  battlemented  stronghold  as  well  as  the 
camp  of  the  Sienese,  is  treated  as  a  pure  accessory,  and 
all  the  emphasis  is  concentrated  on  the  rider.  The  rich 
trappings,  swathing  both  man  and  horse,  display 


322  SIENA 

Simone's  fine  sense  of  pattern,  while  the  flowing  move- 
ment of  the  wind-blown  drapery  lends,  by  that  contrast 
which  only  the  greatest  artists  can  employ  successfully, 
a  wonderful  impressiveness  to  the  vertical  rigidity  of  the 
warrior.* 

Adjoining  the  spacious  hall  of  the  Great  Council  was 
the  smaller  and  more  intimate  chamber  of  the  Nine. 
In  the  year  1337,  nine  years  after  Simone  had  limned  the 
portrait  of  Guidoriccio,  its  decoration  was  entrusted 
to  a  man  who  had  lately  begun  to  attract  attention, 
Ambrogio  Lorenzetti.  Ambrogio  had  an  older  brother, 
Pietro,  and  the  two,  toward  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  especially  after  Simone  betook  himself  to 
Avignon  as  painter  to  the  pope,  threw  all  their  Sienese 
rivals  into  the  shade.  Although  Ambrogio  could  boast 
a  much  greater  native  endowment  than  Pietro,  the  two 
brothers  are  logically  associated  together,  owing  to  their 
common  departure  from  the  artistic  traditions  of  their 
countrymen.  Of  course  both  are  profoundly  Sienese, 
but  both  none  the  less  fell  under  the  spell  of  Giotto's 
naturalism.  This  larger  range,  coupled  with  their  excel- 
lent color  and  grave  types,  may  account  for  the  wide 
popularity  they  enjoyed  throughout  central  Italy.  On 
being  entrusted  with  the  chamber  of  the  Nine,  Ambro- 
gio proceeded  to  prove  his  sympathy  with  the  enlarged 
ideals  of  painting  by  composing  an  allegory,  called  Good 
and  Bad  Government.  It  would  be  rash  to  say  that  he 


*  Simone  worked  much  abroad;  at  Assisi  he  has  left  frescoes  in  the  chapel 
of  Saint  Martin,  which  for  pure  loveliness  have  rarely,  if  ever,  been  surpassed; 
at  Avignon,  where  he  died  in  1344,  his  work  has  been  destroyed.  At  Avignon 
he  met — a  happy  accident — the  poet  Petrarch,  painted  a  portrait  of  Laura, 
and  was  paid  in  poet's  coin  with  two  delicate  sonnets  (49  and  50  of  II  Can- 
zoniere). 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  323 

achieved  a  great  triumph.  Allegory,  with  its  tendency 
to  impart  information  and  inculcate  a  lesson,  is  always 
in  danger  of  tiring  its  public,  unless  the  artist  sternly 
checks  his  garrulity  by  the  exercise  of  dramatic  brevity 
and  self-restraint.  These  were  not  merits  of  Ambrogio 
or  of  his  Sienese  compatriots  in  general.  Ambrogio,  like 
Duccio  in  the  case  of  the  scenes  from  the  Passion  of 
Christ,  found  there  was  much  to  say  and  tried  ramblingly 
to  say  it  all.  The  result  is  that  he  came  very  near 
saying  nothing.  On  the  wall  opposite  the  single  window 
of  the  rectangular  room  in  which  he  worked  he  pre- 
sented his  idea  of  the  moral  and  political  agents,  Justice, 
Concord,  Fortitude  and  so  forth,  which  are  the  pillars 
of  Good  Government.  On  the  neighboring  wall  he 
exhibited  the  images  of  Tyranny,  Pride,  Cruelty,  and 
all  the  evils  which  in  their  sum  signify  Bad  Government. 
Adjoining  Good  and  Bad  Government  respectively  are 
two  further  frescos  which  bring  before  our  eyes  the  actual 
effects  in  a  city  and  its  district  of  the  two  systems.  Two 
pictures  of  the  four  are,  therefore,  strictly  speaking, 
allegorical,  two  are  more  particularly  illustrative.  The 
illustrative  ones,  as  well  as  the  allegory  of  Bad  Govern- 
ment are  almost  ruined.  What  little  can  be  still  made 
out  justifies  us  in  saying  that  Bad  Government,  with  a 
profusion  of  devils,  monsters,  and  the  like  juvenile 
shapes  of  terror,  is  simple  to  the  point  of  childishness, 
and  that  the  expansive  illustrations  of  the  effects  of 
Good  and  Bad  Government  are  redundant  to  the  point 
of  weariness.  Of  course  there  are  some  exquisite  details, 
especially,  in  the  city  blessed  with  a  good  government,  a 
knight  riding  out  to  hunt  and  a  group  of  girls  executing 
the  popular  ridda  or  round  dance.  If  Ambrogio  had 


324  SIENA 

arrested  his  brush  at  this  point  he  would  have  given  us 
enough,  but  he  chose  to  crush  these  modest  flowers  of 
his  art  under  an  overwhelming  and  meaningless  ma- 
chine. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  the  allegory  of  Good 
Government,  which,  though  injured,  is  far  from  a  state 
of  ruin  and  which  represents  the  artist's  highest  achieve- 
ment in  the  chamber  of  the  Nine.  Again  the  instructive 
element  is  too  omnipresent  to  permit  our  spirit  to  take 
its  ease,  as  it  should  in  the  presence  of  a  work  of  art, 
but,  our  first  distaste  at  this  disproportion  overcome, 
we  encounter  such  an  abundance  of  high,  artistic  charm, 
that  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  impression  that  Am- 
brogio,  in  spite  of  his  scholastic  aberrations,  was  a 
delicate  and  powerful  genius.  Good  Government,  con- 
ceived as  a  sovereign  of  grave  and  noble  aspect,  sits 
surrounded  by  a  court  of  six  ladies  representing — as 
inscriptions  inform  us — Prudence,  Fortitude,  Peace, 
Magnanimity,  Temperance,  and  Justice;  at  his  feet,  to 
his  left,  are  his  armed  ministers  who  have  brought  in  a 
group  of  evil-doers,  bound  and  chained,  while  from  his 
right,  come  to  do  him  honor,  approaches  a  company  of 
citizens,  all  holding,  in  sign  of  civic  union,  by  a  cord 
committed  to  them  by  two  women,  seated  apart  and 
placarded,  to  help  our  understanding,  as  Concord  and 
Justice.  Nothing  could  be  more  effective  than  the 
ruler,  looking  out  with  level  glance  and  planted,  with 
his  sceptre  on  his  knee,  firm  as  any  tower;  and  nowhere 
can  we  hope  to  find  so  much  grace,  joined  with  so  much 
dignity,  as  in  the  virtues  seated  at  his  side.  Peace, 
robed  in  white,  with  a  crown  of  olives  in  her  hair,  has 
always  been  singled  out  for  praise.  Prudence  and 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  325 

Magnanimity,  to  the  sovereign's  right  and  left,  are 
hardly  inferior  to  her.  A  very  decorative  touch,  char- 
acteristically Sienese,  is  supplied  by  the  long,  massed 
lances  of  the  armed  men;  in  fact,  wherever  the  eye  falls, 
it  encounters  some  feature  of  delight.  The  color  is  a 
chapter  by  itself;  applied  with  the  greatest  delicacy,  it 
acquires  against  a  quiet  background  of  deep  blue  a  glow 
and  fusion  worthy  of  Simone. 

The  brothers  Pietro  and  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti,  car- 
ried off  their  feet  by  the  example  of  Giotto,  and  trying, 
with  questionable  success,*  their  hand  at  allegory  and 
dramatic  narrative,  were  unsurpassed  in  their  day 
when  they  undertook  altar-pieces  in  the  meditative 
spirit  and  of  the  decorative  quality  traditional  in  their 
city.  Pietro's  triptych  in  the  Opera  del  Duomo,  repre- 
senting the  Birth  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  much  suppler 
and  gayer  Ambrogio's  many  small  madonnas — one  at 
Sant'  Eugenio  outside  Porta  San  Marco,  another  at  San 
Francesco,  a  third  in  the  Galleria,  this  last  particularly 
fine  with  a  bower  of  angels  and  four  kneeling  bishops — 
are  wonderfully  intimate  revelations  of  fourteenth  cen- 
tury feeling.  A  touch  of  naturalism,  caught  from 
Florence,  gives  these  panels  an  unusual  vivacity  without 
impairing  the  charm  of  the  hereditary  and  truly  Sienese 
qualities  of  line  and  color.f 

After  the  Lorenzetti  came  a  period  of  stagnation. 
We  have  seen  that  Siena  itself  toward  the  middle  of  the 
century  was  touched  with  languor,  and  that  its  civic 

*  Look,  for  confirmation,  at  Pietro's  work  at  Assisi.  His  scenes  from  the 
Passion  are  without  a  feature  capable  of  communicating  pleasure;  they  are 
chaos. 

f  Pietro  and  Ambrogio  are  lost  track  of  toward  the  middle  of  the  century; 
it  has  been  surmised  that  they  died  in  the  great  plague  of  the  year  1348. 


326  SIENA 

energy  fell  into  decline.  Such  a  state  of  affairs  was  sure 
to  affect  unfavorably  the  practice  of  painting,  especially 
as  it  coincided  with  a  dearth  of  men  on  a  level  with  the 
creative  geniuses  of  the  last  half  century.  Even  in  the 
Middle  Age,  though  the  nation  influenced  the  produc- 
tion of  the  studios  in  a  degree  unknown  to  our  time, 
the  arts  had  their  ultimate  root  in  the  individual.  In 
Florence,  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
may  be  noticed  an  artistic  decay  as  indisputable  as  the 
contemporary  failure  of  Siena,  and  in  the  case  of 
Florence,  it  is  impossible  to  explain  the  phenomenon  as 
due  to  an  enfeebled  moral  and  economic  condition.  If 
painting  in  the  Arno  town  declined,  if  it  fell  immediately 
after  its  first  brave  flight  to  even  a  lower  level  than  that 
reached  at  Siena,  the  only  satisfactory  explanation  is 
that  no  individual  appeared  who  was  capable  of  turning 
to  account  the  magnificent  inheritance  of  Giotto.  In 
the  upland  city  such  men  as  Andrea  Vanni  (d.  1414) 
and  Taddeo  Bartoli  (d.  1422),  though  hardly  more  than 
honest  journeymen,  showed  at  least  that  the  spark 
struck  by  Duccio  was  not  extinguished.  To  throw 
a  glance  at  Andrea's  polytych  in  Santo  Stefano,  or  at 
Taddeo's  scenes  from  the  life  of  the  Virgin  in  the 
chapel  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  is  to  recognize  the  per- 
sistent vitality  of  a  great  tradition.  Florence  has  no 
contemporary  work  of  the  same  fibre,  but  Florence 
presently  achieved  what  was  denied  her  rival — a  second 
period  of  creation  more  triumphant  even  than  the  first. 
Were  her  slumbering  energies  revived  because  all 
Florence — Florence  considered  as  a  people  and  a 
nation — responded  to  the  sharp  stimulus  of  the  Renais- 
sance and  expanded  gratefully  under  the  new  influence, 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  327 

or  did  her  artistic  energies  owe  their  quickening  rather 
to  leaders  and  geniuses  like  Masaccio  and  Donatello, 
who  freed  the  plodders  in  the  botteghe  from  the  chains 
of  old  conventions  and  endowed  them  with  new  eyes 
and  a  new  understanding  ?  Be  the  reason  what  it  may, 
Florentine  art  celebrated  a  glorious  revival,  expressive 
of  the  young  hopes  which  shed  their  light  over  mankind, 
while  in  Siena,  although  there  as  elsewhere  the  Renais- 
sance piped  its  alluring  song,  the  painters  contentedly 
travelled  the  accustomed  way,  reproducing  the  forms  and 
sentiments  with  which  they  were  familiar.  We  may 
doubt  whether  even  a  succession  of  great  leaders,  had 
they  been  granted  to  Siena  instead  of  to  Florence,  could 
have  secured  the  victory  of  the  Renaissance  code  of 
life  and  art  without  the  support  of  popular  favor. 
Indeed  an  earlier  and  a  no  less  eloquent  prophet  of 
the  new  time  than  Masaccio,  Jacopo  della  Quercia, 
was,  by  a  strange  caprice  of  nature,  a  son  of  pro- 
vincial Siena,  and  during  a  score  of  years  preached 
the  new  gospel  in  his  native  city  practically  to  deaf 
ears. 

In  any  case  the  fifteenth  century  broke  over  Siena 
and  produced,  at  least  as  far  as  painting  is  concerned, 
no  art  specifically  of  the  Renaissance.  To  be  sure  this 
century  witnessed  the  labors  of  a  most  fascinating  group 
of  artists,  who  signify  a  second  blossoming  of  the 
Sienese  genius;  but  the  striking  fact  remains  that  they 
hardly  deign  to  take  notice  of  the  new  movement  of 
civilization,  and,  except  for  the  absorption  of  a  few  new 
elements  of  skill,  exhibit  a  devoted  loyalty  to  the  medi- 
aeval traditions  of  their  home.  Although  the  new 
period  decidedly  merits  a  close  and  sympathetic  study, 


328  SIENA 

the  scope  of  this  sketch  does  not  permit  me  to  do  more 
than  to  present  its  leading  representatives  under  the 
form  of  a  general  characterization.  The  dominant 
figures  of  Sienese  painting  during  its  second  period  of 
bloom  were  Stefano  di  Giovanni,  called  Sassetta  (1392- 
1447),  Sano  di  Pietro  (1406-81),  Benvenuto  di  Giovanni 
(1436-1518  ?),  Matteo  di  Giovanni  (1435  P-I495),  Fran- 
cesco di  Giorgio  (1439-1502),  and  Neroccio  di  Landi 
(1447-1500).  One  and  all  of  these  men  exhibit,  of 
course  in  varying  combinations,  the  familiar  Sienese 
tendencies  and  qualities.  They  seek  a  sumptuous 
effect,  retaining  for  the  purpose  the  use  of  gold  long 
after  it  was  abandoned  elsewhere;  they  cling  to  a 
delicate  and  elaborate  detail;-  they  love  the  old  general- 
ized types  better  than  the  differentiated  humanity  of  the 
new  realism;  they  refuse  to  be  betrayed  by  perspective, 
and  light,  and  the  other  conquests  of  science  into  a 
surrender  of  their  simple  decorative  principles;  and, 
finally,  they  admirably  produce  the  impression  which 
is  appropriate  to  their  means  and  their  intention.  In 
this  last  feature  lies  the  real  test  of  all  their  qualities; 
by  sending  forth  into  the  world,  a  whole  century  after 
the  death  of  the  Lorenzetti,  and  when  secular  influences 
were  asserting  their  ascendency  throughout  Italy, 
religious  pieces  sincerely  conceived  and  unerring  in 
their  effect,  they  establish  their  rank  as  true  artists. 
However,  let  no  one  expect  to  encounter  among  their 
panels  either  the  radiant,  care-free  figures  of  Simone's 
art,  suggesting  a  distant  world  of  blithe  romance,  or  the 
robust  saints  of  Ambrogio  who  seem  to  have  stepped  out 
of  a  meeting  of  dignified  burghesses.  In  their  passage 
through  the  minds  of  a  weaker  generation,  the  old  types, 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  329 

though  still  recognizable,  have  undoubtedly  lost  some- 
thing of  their  nobler  nature  and  been  brought  nearer 
to  our  common  human  state  of  wistfulness  and  frailty. 
These  fifteenth  century  masters,  shut  off  from  the  fresh 
currents  of  thought  and  taking  their  pleasure  in  end- 
lessly refining  upon  the  old  methods  and  the  old  senti- 
ments, had  necessarily  to  pay  for  their  self-satisfaction 
with  the  loss  of  virility.  They  constitute  an  Indian 
summer,  shedding  a  faint  fragrance  which,  if  sweet, 
suggests  decay  and  a  near  end. 

All  these  belated  medievalists,  and  more  particu- 
larly Matteo  di  Giovanni  and  Neroccio,  were  endowed 
with  great  natural  gifts  and  did  not  adopt  their  conserva- 
tive creed  purely  from  pride  or  indolence.  They  knew 
perfectly  well  what  was  going  on  at  Florence  and  in  the 
world  around;  they  were  acquainted  with  the  work  of 
Donatello,  and  admired  Botticelli  and  his  friends,  going 
so  far  as  to  import  occasionally  a  trait  of  one  or  another 
Florentine  into  their  work;  but  from  every  excursion 
beyond  the  circle  of  their  town  they  returned  with  spon- 
taneous resolution  to  the  tradition  of  their  predecessors 
because  these  painters,  and  these  alone,  stirred  the  Sienese 
heart.  There  is  something  in  such  tenacious  loyalty 
to  home  ideals  which  forces  our  respect,  but  the  honor 
we  gladly  pay  the  Sienese  quattrocentists  should  not  lead 
us  to  overlook  the  fact  that  their  attitude  is  the  proof 
of  a  confirmed  provincialism.  Duccio  and  his  followers, 
marching  onward  with  the  breath  of  the  morning  upon 
them,  carried  Siena  into  the  van  of  Tuscan  civilization; 
Sano,  Neroccio,  and  Matteo  were  content  to  have  her 
sit  remote  among  her  hills,  spinning  reminiscences  like 
an  ancient  pensioner.  Thus  painting  adds  its  bit  of 


330  SIENA 

evidence  touching  the  rapid  exhaustion,  under  the  con- 
ditions of  the  new  age,  of  the  once  lusty  commune. 

The  profusion  with  which  pictorial  decoration  once 
colored  the  walls  of  municipal  buildings  and  of  churches 
is  brought  home  with  astonishment  to  any  one  who 
strolls  through  the  rooms  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico  or 
along  the  choir  of  S.  Francesco  and  the  Servi.  What 
is  left,  crumbling  and  growing  fainter  every  day,  con- 
stitutes a  considerable  production,  but  is  a  small  fraction 
of  the  art  which  once  made  these  places  attractive  and 
memorable.  In  the  fourteenth  century,  not  only  every 
wall  which  in  any  sense  belonged  to  the  public  glowed, 
like  the  rich  page  of  a  missal,  with  fair  borders  and 
grave  saints,  but  the  passion  for  decoration  spread  to 
personal  and  household  articles  as  well,  and  painters,  not 
excluding  the  greatest,  gladly  made  a  trial  of  their  skill 
upon  shields,  coats-of-arms,  banners,  book-covers,  and 
marriage  chests.  Only  this  general  diffusion  of  the 
decorative  taste  can  account  for  the  immense  number 
of  painters  who  found  employment  in  Siena  in  the 
fourteenth  century.* 

Everything  affirms  that  the  Sienese  were  a  people 
who,  among  all  the  arts,  felt  most  immediately  drawn 
to  the  moving  charm  commanded  by  the  art  of  painting. 
But,  possessed  with  the  desire  to  magnify  life  in  every 
manner  given  to  man,  they  gratefully  accepted  also  such 
services  as  lay  in  the  gift  of  sculpture  and  the  artistic 
crafts.  As  early  as  the  year  1266,  while  Duccio  was 
still  a  boy,  the  operaio  of  the  cathedral  ordered  the 
pulpit  of  Niccolo  Pisano,  which  still  stands  in  the  shadow 

*  A  list  of  them — more  than  two  hundred  names — in  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.," 
IV,  p.  133- 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  331 

of  the  cupola.  If  the  beauty  of  this  monument  is  not 
generally  convincing,  there  can  be  no  dispute  as  to  its 
historical  importance.  The  Gothic  sculpture  of  all 
Tuscany  may  be  properly  said  to  have  its  roots  in  it. 
The  sculptors  of  Siena,  who,  before  the  arrival  of  the 
Pisan  master,  are  more  correctly  qualified  as  stone- 
cutters, now  had  a  work  set  before  them  far  beyond 
their  scope.  And  to  the  inspiration  of  the  pulpit  was 
presently  added  the  highly  finished  figure-work  of 
Giovanni,  Niccolo's  son,  technically  as  gifted  as  his 
father  and  endowed  with  much  finer  artistic  perceptions. 
Giovanni,  who,  as  we  know,  acted  for  many  years  as 
operaio  of  the  cathedral,  probably  not  only  erected  the 
first  facade  of  that  edifice — the  facade  which  was 
afterward  destroyed — but  adorned  its  niches  and  taber- 
nacles with  many  statues.  Although  very  few  remains 
of  Giovanni's  work  can  be  still  identified  in  Siena,  there 
is  no  doubt  that  he  exercised  a  wide  influence  and 
became  the  real  founder  of  the  Sienese  Gothic  school. 
This  school  found  occupation  chiefly  in  connection  with 
the  stonework  of  the  cathedral,  where  we  can  judge  of 
its  taste  and  skill  in  the  capitals  of  nave  and  choir,  and 
in  the  foliage  and  figure-work  profusely  scattered 
everywhere.  The  sculptors  of  the  Sienese  trecento  also 
fashioned  stone  altars  and  tabernacles,  and  raised  those 
curious  sepulchral  monuments  which  consist  of  sar- 
cophagi imbedded  in  the  walls  of  churches,  and  which 
are  still  to  be  found  in  frequent  examples  throughout 
Tuscany.  All  things  considered,  the  amount  of  their 
work  which  has  come  down  to  us  is  not  great,  and  such 
as  it  is,  stamped  with  the  mark  of  the  shop  and  never 
of  the  individual,  gives  us  no  reason  to  regret  that  its 


332  SIENA 

bulk  is  small.  With  the  temperamental  bent  of  the 
Sienese  toward  color,  we  need  hardly  wonder  that 
sculpture  did  not  acquire  the  magic  touch  of  contempo- 
rary painting  and  never  rose  above  the  level  of  an  honest 
mediocrity.  A  far  more  favorable  opinion  of  the  local 
school  would  be  forced  upon  us  if  it  could  be  proved 
that  Sienese  sculptors  moulded  the  reliefs  upon  the 
facade  of  the  cathedral  of  Orvieto.  These,  the  most 
delicate  creations  in  stone  of  the  Gothic  period  to  be 
found  in  Central  Italy,  immediately  communicate  by 
their  delicate  forms  and  expressive  movements  that 
feeling  of  intensified  existence  which  is  the  best  return 
man  has  from  art.  Very  probably  these  reliefs  were 
executed  by  Sienese  masters  under  the  general  direction 
of  the  architect  of  the  facade,  Lorenzo  di  Maitano,  who, 
it  is  certain,  was  a  native  of  Siena;  but  even  if  the  Or- 
vieto work  is  Sienese,  the  fact  remains  that  to  the  city 
of  the  Virgin  accrued  no  recognizable  benefit  from  the 
skill  of  its  sons. 

Just  as  sculpture  was  falling  into  a  languor  that  prom- 
ised a  complete  demise,  it  received  a  new  impulse  from 
one  of  the  forerunners  of  the  Renaissance,  Jacopo  della 
Quercia  (1374-1428).  Although  Jacopo's  mind  and 
hand  never  entirely  ceased  to  declare  his  mediaeval 
origin,  he  turned  with  bold  initiative  from  the  exhausted 
conventions  of  the  past  in  order  to  refresh  his  art  by 
direct  study  of  the  forms  of  nature.  He  was  the  first 
and  almost  the  only  Sienese  realist,  but  his  realism,  in 
distinction  from  that  of  his  Florentine  contemporaries, 
was  held  in  restraint  by  a  sense  of  form  so  purely  classical 
that  we  do  not  encounter  its  like  again  till  the  days  of 
Michael  Angelo.  His  main  work  in  Siena  is  the  Fonte 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  333 

Gaia,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken  in  another  place, 
but  his  name  is  also  connected  with  the  beautiful  font 
of  the  Baptistery,  for  which  he  drew  the  general  plan 
and  contributed  the  bronze  relief  representing  the 
expulsion  of  Zaccharias.  However,  though  his  country- 
men admired,  they  did  not  comprehend.  Jacopo's 
work  was  in  effect  an  attempt  to  throw  open  the  doors 
and  windows  of  the  Sienese  mind  to  new  light  and 
understanding;  but,  smiling  pleasantly,  without  a  sign 
of  rancor,  the  people  of  the  hill-city  rejected  the  prof- 
fered salvation.  The  realist  creed  did  in  the  course  of 
time  make  headway  in  the  Elsa  valley  and,  wedded  to 
the  decorative  taste  native  to  this  region,  produced  a 
local  school  of  Renaissance  sculpture,  the  work  of  which 
we  may  sincerely  admire  in  delicately  ornate  doors,  in 
shapely  friezes,  and  in  occasional  statuary.  Federighi 
(d.  1490),  if  not  the  most  capable,  was  certainly  the 
most  active  of  this  group,  and  in  work  where  he  could 
legitimately  indulge  his  love  for  smoothness  and  finish, 
as,  for  example,  in  the  frieze  of  the  chapel  of  the  Campo 
or  in  that  of  the  Palazzo  dei  Diavoli  outside  Porta 
Camellia,  proved  that  the  old  Sienese  refinement  still 
survived.  But  energy  and  force,  the  virtues  of  the  con- 
queror, neither  he  nor  his  contemporaries  possessed, 
wherefore  their  work  fades  to  a  shadow  when  confronted 
with  the  impetuous  creations  of  such  fifteenth  century 
Florentines  as  Pollaiuolo  and  Verocchio.* 
The  Age  of  the  Communes,  which  saw  the  revival  of 

*  I  may  be  permitted  to  remind  the  reader  who  observes  my  failure  even 
to  mention  artists  like  Vecchietta  and  Marrina,  that  I  am  as  little  engaged  in 
writing  a  history  of  sculpture  as  of  painting.  My  sole  object  is  to  convey  by 
the  method  of  an  historical  review  a  general  idea  of  the  quality  of  Sienese 
work  in  stone  and  color. 


334  SIENA 

the  democratic  spirit  of  republican  Rome  and,  rooted 
in  the  general  awakening  of  man's  slumbering  energies, 
a  new  bloom  of  the  Fine  Arts,  naturally  witnessed  also 
!an  interesting  development  of  the  artistic  crafts.  We 
have  found  that  the  men  who  painted  the  pictures  and 
carved  the  images  of  stone  and  marble  received  their 
commission  from  the  great  corporations  of  the  church 
and  commune.  As  soon  as  their  products  involved  any 
considerable  outlay  of  money,  the  humbler  workers  in 
wood  and  metal  were  obliged  to  resort  to  the  same  power- 
ful patrons.  The  truth  is  that  wealth,  far  from  being  in 
any  considerable  quantity  in  private  hands,  was  a  corpor- 
ate possession  and  was  employed  to  serve  the  purpose  and 
flatter  the  taste  of  the  ruling  bodies  of  church  and  state. 
The  metal  and  wood  workers  of  Siena,  therefore,  chiefly 
produced  in  their  shops,  as  the  highest  expression  of  their 
skill,  crucifixes,  reliquaries,  chalices,  choir-stalls,  and 
other  articles,  serving  to  decorate  the  places  of  worship 
and  to  ennoble  the  service  of  the  Mass.  Among  the 
various  classes  of  craftsmen  traceable  in  the  Siena  of 
the  trecento,  the  goldsmiths  more  particularly  seem  to 
have  enjoyed  a  great  reputation,  and  one  of  them, 
Lando  di  Pietro,  who,  after  the  manner  of  his  time,  was 
also  an  architect  and  in  this  capacity  drew  the  bold 
plan  for  the  uncompleted  "duomo  nuovo,"  was  chosen  to 
fashion  the  crown  used  for  the  coronation  of  Dante's 
hero,  Henry  VII.  This  crown,  as  well  as  Lando's 
other  works,  are  lost  or,  what  is  more  likely,  were,  by  an 
age  devoted  to  another  style  in  jewel  ornaments,  re- 
turned to  the  crucible,  unless  it  be  that  the  exquisitely 
worked  reliquary  of  San  Galgano,  preserved  by  the  nuns 
of  the  Santuccio  near  Porta  Romana,  is  of  his  hand. 


Bronze  Banner-holder 
By  Cozzarelli  (attached  to  the  Palazzo  del  Magnifico) 


THE  ARTISTIC  SPIRIT  335 

However,  as  this  work  has  been  also  claimed  for 
Ugolino  di  Vieri,  we  must,  waiving  the  question  of  attri- 
bution, be  content  to  receive  it  as  an  earnest  of  fourteenth 
century  skill  and  taste.  The  mediaeval  records  prove 
that  republican  Siena  harbored  within  her  walls,  in 
addition  to  goldsmiths,  numerous  workers  in  wood, 
iron,  and  stained  glass,  but  when  we  search  for  the  sur- 
viving evidence  of  their  handiwork,  we  find  that  it 
reduces  itself  to  a  few  scattered  articles.  True,  after 
time  and  man  have  for  centuries  done  their  worst  to 
disperse  the  artistic  treasures  of  Siena,  the  town  is  still 
remarkably  rich  in  the  product  of  the  crafts,  but  an 
examination  will  show  that  this  product  belongs,  in  its 
bulk,  either  to  the  period  of  transition  or  to  the  full 
Renaissance.  As  characteristic  examples  of  this  work, 
conceived  in  the  forms  popularized  by  the  new  civiliza- 
tion, I  may  refer  to  the  delicately  ornate  iron  screen 
of  the  inner  chapel  of  the  Palazzo  Pubblico,  to  the 
admirable  bronze  banner-holders  of  Cozzarelli  on  the 
facade  of  the  palace  of  Pandolfo  Petrucci,  and  to  the 
exquisite  wood  pilasters  carved  for  the  same  patron 
by  Barili.  All  these  creations  of  the  wood  and  metal 
crafts  breathe  that  quality  of  aristocratic  refinement 
which  is  met  in  all  things  Sienese  in  the  last  period  of 
life  of  the  republic. 

Therewith  I  have  again  reached  the  Renaissance  and 
the  utmost  chronological  boundary  of  this  book. 
Casting  our  eye  backward  over  the  path  we  have 
travelled,  we  are  made  aware  that  the  art  by  which  the 
Sienese,  in  the  period  of  their  fullest  development, 
most  significantly  expressed  their  character  and  ideals 
is  the  art  of  painting.  In  this  field,  in  the  course  of 


336  SIENA 

the  trecento  when  youth  and  hope  made  their  dwelling 
in  the  city,  the  people  of  the  Virgin  created  radiant 
works,  the  effects  of  which  were  felt  far  beyond  the  nar- 
row pale  of  home.  Duccio  and  the  Lorenzetti,  but, 
above  all,  the  magician  Simone,  showed,  in  their  feeling 
for  line  and  color  and  in  the  beauty  of  their  decorative 
effects,  a  subtle  refinement  which,  since  the  nation 
realized  its  noblest  possibilities  in  these  great  sons,  we 
may  receive  as  the  special  message  of  this  people;  but 
thus  delicately  endowed,  instead  of  shrinking  from  the 
world,  Simone  and  his  peers  confronted  it  with  the  enter- 
prise of  fresh  and  elastic  personalities.  A  hundred 
years  after,  in  the  Indian  summer  of  Sienese  art  marked 
by  such  names  as  Neroccio  and  Matteo,  the  enterprise 
had  vanished,  but  the  refinement,  coupled  with  the 
old  sincerity  of  feeling,  still  remained.  We  are  aware 
that  in  the  period  of  these  quattrocentists  the  whole 
public  life  of  Siena  began  to  exhibit  ominous  signs  of 
collapse.  The  coincidence  leads  us  back  to  the  reflec- 
tion which  I  set  down  at  the  head  of  this  chapter: 
though  in  our  day  the  arts,  having,  to  a  certain  extent 
at  least,  become  denationalized,  do  not  always  serve  as 
a  secure  index  of  the  life  of  a  given  people,  in  mediaeval 
Siena  the  artists  afford  us  without  any  doubt  the  most 
precious  information  which  we  have  touching  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  city  of  their  birth.  Happy  in  their  communal 
setting  and  saturated  with  its  special  quality,  these  men 
unconsciously  gave  expression  to  the  mute  hopes  and 
longings  of  their  fellow-citizens.  That  is  the  reason  why 
the  art  of  Siena,  as  much  as  any  art  of  any  period  of 
history,  possesses  a  national  and  democratic  character. 


CHAPTER  XII 

MANNERS  AND  PASTIMES;   LITERARY  AND 
INTELLECTUAL  ACTIVITY 

BY  the  struggle  of  the  young  commune  against  the 
feudal  system,  by  its  gradual  political  organiza- 
tion, by  its  wars  with  its  neighbors,  by  the  arts 
which  it  cultivated — by  such  broad  avenues  as  these 
the  historian  is  most  likely  to  arrive  at  what  is  significant 
in  Sienese  civilization;  nevertheless  an  immense  amount 
of  curious  information,  occasionally  adding  an  effective 
stroke  to  the  picture,  is  afforded  by  investigating  the 
more  secret  and  unfamiliar  paths  which  introduce  us  to 
the  amusements  of  the  people,  to  the  forms  of  inter- 
course, and  to  the  many  homely  aspects  of  daily  living. 
In  order  that,  for  a  moment  at  least  in  our  long  journey, 
we  may  feel  upon  us  the  breath  of  common  day,  I  now 
plan  to  pass  in  review  some  of  the  more  ephemeral 
aspects  of  street  and  square,  although  the  pressure  of 
space  obliges  me  to  be  satisfied  with  an  ideal  sadly  short 
of  completeness.  At  the  same  time  I  shall  define 
briefly  the  attitude  of  the  Sienese  toward  the  things  of 
the  mind  by  reviewing  their  relation  to  literature  and 
science. 

No  lover  of  sport  will  neglect  to  inquire  into  the  games 
of  a  nation  which  has  engaged  his  notice,  and  games,  it 
may  be  asserted  without  fear  of  contradiction,  are  a  not 

337 


338  SIENA 

unimportant  index  of  civilization.  That  the  Greeks 
celebrated  their  Olympic  games  with  a  healthy  and 
cheerful  competition  among  men  and  horses,  while  the 
Romans  sought  an  outlet  for  their  animal  spirits  in  the 
brutal  spectacle  of  a  gladiatorial  show — do  not  these 
contrasting  scenes  present  effectively  the  whole  startling 
difference  between  Hellenic  and  Latin  culture  ?  And 
letting  our  glance  travel  to  the  age  which  followed  the 
fall  of  Rome,  is  there  anything  which  reveals  the  char- 
acter of  feudal  society  more  successfully  than  the 
jousts  of  steel-clad  warriors,  varied  with  the  gentler 
though  still  vigorous  pursuits  of  hunting  and  hawking  ? 
In  examining  the  earliest  games  of  which  there  is  record 
among  the  mediaeval  Sienese,  we  observe  that  our  town, 
or  at  least  the  dominant  class  of  our  town,  was  devoted 
to  the  same  amusements  as  those  which  enjoyed  the 
favor  of  the  baronial  element  throughout  Europe.  In 
the  year  1222,  to  give  a  relatively  late  example,  we  hear 
that  una  bella  e  nobile  giostra  was  held  in  the  meadow 
outside  Porta  Camellia,  and,  further,  that  the  first  prize, 
consisting  "of  an  exceeding  swift  horse  with  housings 
of  silk  together  with  a  fine  suit  of  armor,"  was  awarded 
to  a  certain  Buonsignore  of  Arezzo.*  Although  the 
dugento  brought  the  political  defeat  of  the  nobility,  the 
great  families,  in  part  at  least,  survived,  and  with  them 
continued  to  flourish  for  some  generations  to  come  a 
preference  for  the  rude  exercise  of  the  lists.  Even  in 
the  trecento,  therefore,  when  a  group  of  purse-proud 
merchants  governed  the  city,  tournaments  were  no 
infrequent  feature  of  Sienese  life;  nay,  they  must  have 
been  looked  upon  with  favor,  for  we  find  that  they  were 

*  Muratori,  Vol.  XV,  "Cronica  Sanese."     Note  under  year  1222. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  339 

permitted  in  the  Campo  itself,  in  spite  of  the  interrup- 
tion of  business  occasioned  thereby.  The  fact  was 
that  the  city  was  keenly  interested  to  possess  among  its 
citizens  men  capable  of  employing  arms,  and,  in  sign  of 
being  favorably  disposed  to  martial  exercises,  even  went 
so  far  as  to  extend  its  protection  to  that  characteristic 
product  of  feudal  society,  the  institution  of  knighthood. 
A  mediaeval  knight,  it  is  well  known,  was  not  born 
but  made.  A  necessary  condition,  indeed,  especially 
in  the  north  of  Europe,  where  the  institution  had  a 
much  more  exclusive  character  than  among  the  city- 
democracies  of  Italy,  was  that  the  candidate  for  knight- 
hood be  of  good  family,  but  good  and  even  noble  birth 
alone  did  not  suffice  to  secure  the  chivalric  honors.  Be- 
fore a  young  gentleman  might  aspire  to  such  a  distinc- 
tion he  was  required  to  give  proof  of  his  readiness  and 
ability  to  do  a  warrior's  service  in  some  noble  and  unself- 
fish  cause.  Then  he  was  struck  knight  by  the  emperor  or 
some  great  prince,  and  with  significant  ceremonies  was 
received  into  the  brotherhood  of  chivalry.  It  was  a 
sign  of  the  healthy  self-esteem  developed  by  the  Italian 
republics  that  they  soon  assumed  in  this  matter  the 
prerogatives  of  feudal  sovereignty,  and  freely  created 
knights  among  those  of  their  citizens  who  served  in  the 
communal  army  in  the  capacity  of  milites.  In  Siena 
candidates  for  the  coveted  honor  were  by  formal 
statute  permitted  to  erect  a  pavilion  in  the  central 
square,  and  there,  with  all  the  world  looking  on,  for  the 
space  of  some  two  weeks,  they  feasted  friends,  gave  and 
received  presents,  and  offered  proof  of  their  prowess.* 
That  jousting  was  slow  to  lose  its  popularity  is  proved 

*  Falletti-Fossati,  "Costumi  Senesi,"  pp.  219-21. 


340  SIENA 

by  one  of  the  most  picturesque  of  the  sonnets  addressed 
by  Folgore  da  San  Gimignano  "unto  the  blithe  and 
lordly  Fellowship"  of  Sienese  nobles,  the  famous 
brigata  spendereccla.  Let  the  reader  imagine  as  scene 
of  the  events  described  the  great  Campo  with  its  Palazzo 
Pubblico  and  girdle  of  Gothic  palaces,  and  unless  in 
reading  Folgore's  poem  he  realize  with  intensity  one 
phase  of  mediaeval  sport  and  pageantry,  rhyme  may  be 
declared  to  have  no  power  over  him : 

I  give  you  horses  for  your  games  in  May, 
And  all  of  them  well-train'd  unto  the  course — 
Each  docile,  swift,  erect,  a  goodly  horse; 
With  armor  on  their  chests,  and  bells  at  play 
Between  their  brows,  and  pennons  fair  and  gay; 
Fine  nets,  and  housings  meet  for  warriors, 
Emblazoned  with  the  shields  ye  claim  for  yours, 
Gules,  argent,  or,  all  dizzy  at  noonday. 
And  spears  shall  split,  and  fruit  go  flying  up 
In  merry  counterchange  for  wreaths  that  drop 

From  balconies  and  casements  far  above; 
And  tender  damsels  with  young  men  and  youths 
Shall  kiss  together  on  the  cheeks  and  mouths; 
And  every  day  be  glad  with  joyful  love.* 

Meanwhile  the  popular  forces  triumphed  throughout 
Tuscany,  and  feudalism  with  its  honors,  feasts,  and 
games  sloped  to  its  setting.f  As  jousting  owed  its 

*  Translated  by  D.  G.  Rossetti  in  his  "Early  Italian  Poets."  Nothing  is 
known  of  Folgore.  From  evidence  supplied  by  his  poems  we  are  made 
aware  that  he  was  a  contemporary  of  Dante,  and  that  the  above  sonnet 
describes  or  idealizes  a  Sienese  scene  of  the  early  fourteenth  century. 

f  By  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century  tournaments,  looked  on  as  hopelessly 
out  of  date,  had  become  a  subject  of  mockery.  Their  revival  under  the 
Renaissance  tyrannies  was  strictly  artificial,  and  served  no  other  end  but  that 
of  pomp. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  341 

existence  to  the  need  felt  by  the  cavaliers  for  constant 
practice  in  their  chosen  arms,  so  an  exercise  was  certain 
to  be  evolved  which  would  enable  the  bulk  of  the  com- 
munal army,  composed  of  foot-soldiers,  to  prepare 
itself  in  time  of  peace  for  the  stern  discipline  of  war. 
Such  pedestrian  exercises,  in  distinction  from  the  splen- 
did and  ceremonial  combats  of  the  upper  class,  would 
naturally  have  a  rude  and  democratic  character.  In 
some  form  or  other,  under  the  generic  name  of  battaglie, 
they  may  be  encountered  in  every  city  of  Tuscany.  In 
these  mimic  battles  bands  of  city  youths  would  meet 
from  time  to  time  in  some  open  square,  and  using 
stones  or  staves  as  weapons,  would  attempt  to  gain  a 
victory  over  one  another.  The  oldest  form  of  battaglia 
known  to  Sienese  annals,  was,  from  the  helmets 
worn  by  the  players,  called  elmora.  Mr.  Heywood,  who 
has  treated  of  Tuscan  sports  in  his  usual  penetrat- 
ing fashion,  informs  us  that  besides  the  helmet — for 
which  a  protection  of  basket-work  might  be  substituted 
— the  player  wore  a  breastplate,  cuisses,  and  greaves. 
A  wooden  staff  and  shield  for  thrust  and  ward  completed 
his  regular  equipment,  but  stone-throwing,  resorted  to  in 
the  heat  of  the  encounter,  was  a  common  feature  of  the 
combat.*  Under  these  circumstances  elmora  was  not 
likely  to  prove  very  different  from  a  real  battle,  and  in- 
deed so  numerous  were  the  casualties  usually  associated 
with  it  that  efforts  were  made  at  a  relatively  early  period 
to  effect  a  reform.  Beginning  in  1263  with  the  abolition 
of  stone-throwing,  the  whole  game  was  presently  put 
under  the  ban.f  But  in  spite  of  solemn  ordinances  the 

*  Heywood,  "Palio  and  Ponte,"  pp.  179-80. 

t  "II  Constitute  di  Siena  di  1262,"  Dist.  V,  33  and  194. 


342  SIENA 

sport  continued  to  be  followed  until  a  peculiarly  savage 
contest,  which  almost  set  the  city  topsy-turvy,  rang  its 
passing-bell.  The  chronicler  describes  the  event,  which 
befell  in  the  year  1291,  in  the  following  terms: 

"  In  Siena  there  was  a  great  battle  of  elmora  after  this  manner, 
that  the  terzo  of  San  Martino  and  the  terzo  of  Camollia  fought 
with  the  terzo  of  Citta  on  such  wise  that  the  terzo  of  Citta  was 
driven  back  even  to  the  chiasso  delle  Mora.  And  there  did  they 
receive  succor  from  the  casato,  and  from  the  piazza  Manetti,  and 
from  the  Scotti  and  the  Forteguerri.  Then  began  they  to  cast 
stones,  and  afterward  they  fought  hand  to  hand  with  great  assault 
of  battle.  And  thither  came  well-nigh  all  Siena,  either  to  join  in 
the  fray  or  to  interpose  to  separate  the  combatants.  But  so  great 
was  the  confusion  and  shouting  that  no  man  might  hear  himself 
speak;  neither  were  they  able  to  stop  the  battle.  Whereby  it  bef el 
that  there  were  slain  ten  gentlemen  besides  many  of  the  baser 
sort;  and  many  were  wounded  until  at  last  the  terzo  of  Citta  was 
victorious,  and  drove  back  the  terzo  of  San  Martino  and  that  of 
Camollia,  thrusting  them  forth  from  the  Campo.  And  in  good 
sooth,  if  Messer  Pino,  the  potesta,  had  not  forced  his  way  into  the 
metee  with  his  folk  and  compelled  those  men  to  lay  down  their 
arms,  there  would  have  been  even  greater  slaughter.  And  by 
reason  of  this  battle  it  was  ordained  that  thenceforth  the  game 
should  not  be  played  with  staves  and  stones,  but  that  they  who 
joined  therein  should  use  their  fists  alone."* 

This  prohibition  of  the  use  of  staves  and  stones  no 
more  than  reenacted  an  old  law,  which  from  this 
time  on,  however,  seems  to  have  been  fairly  well 
respected.  To  salve  the  feeling  of  the  citizens,  the  edict, 
while  abolishing  elmora,  expressly  authorized  a  combat 
of  another  kind,  the  battaglia  of  fists,  called  pugna. 

*Muratori,  Vol.  XV,  "Cronica  Sanese,"  42.  I  have  used  the  translation 
of  Heywood,  "Palio  and  Ponte,"  p.  181. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  343 

i 
Some  writers  maintain  that  now  only  did  pugna  come 

into  existence,  but  Mr.  Heywood  adduces  plentiful 
proof  that  as  a  relatively  innocent  variant  of  elmora  it 
had  enjoyed  the  favor  of  the  Sienese  throughout  the 
dugento.  When  played,  according  to  the  rules,  with 
fists  alone,  pugna,  though  still  strenuous,  was  hardly 
likely  to  lead  to  serious  accidents;  in  the  heat  of  passion, 
however,  the  temptation  would  arise  to  seize  other 
weapons,  thus  effecting  a  more  or  less  complete  resur- 
rection of  the  proscribed  elmora.  Of  this  circumstance 
a  pugna  of  1324,  when  the  Nine  were  in.  their  glory, 
gives  ample  proof. 

"  On  the  Sunday  before  carnival,  the  same  being  the  third  day  of 
February,  a  game  of  pugna  was  played  in  Siena.  Those  of  the 
terzo  of  San  Martino  with  those  of  the  terzo  of  Camellia  numbered 
six  hundred  each;  and  there  came  against  them  the  terzo  of  Citta. 
Whereby  it  befel  that  there  was  in  the  piazza  of  Siena  much  folk 
stripped  to  their  doublets,  with  caps  of  cloth  upon  their  heads  fur- 
nished with  cheek-pieces  for  the  protection  of  the  face  and  head. 
Also  they  wrapped  handkerchiefs  around  their  hands  according  to 
custom.  And  playing  at  the  pugna  on  this  wise,  the  two  terzi  cast 
out  the  terzo  of  Citta  from  the  Campo.  And  they  commenced  to 
throw  stones,  and  certain  persons  took  staves;  and  so  they  fought 
on.  Thereafter  they  armed  themselves  with  shields  and  helmets 
and  with  lances,  swords,  and  spears;  and  so  great  was  the  uproar 
in  the  Campo  that  all  the  world  seemed  upside  down  for  the 
multitude  of  folk  that  was  therein.  And  all  the  soldiers  of  the 
commune  came  armed  into  the  Campo,  and  likewise  the  potesta 
with  his  attendants.  And  the  Signori  Nove  made  proclamation 
that  the  battle  should  cease.  .  .  .  And  ever  there  came  more 
people  into  the  Campo  by  all  the  ways  that  led  thereto,  with  cross- 
bows and  with  axes  and  with  bills.  And  the  battle  ever  increased, 
and  neither  the  Signori  nor  any  others  that  were  there  were  able 
to  remedy  so  great  ruin.  Wherefore  the  bishop  of  Siena,  with  the 


344  SIENA 

priests  and  friars  of  all  the  orders,  came  into  the  Campo  in  pro- 
cession, bearing  the  cross  before  them.  And  they  commenced 
to  pass  through  the  battle  .  .  .  until  at  last  they  who  fought  were 
separated  by  reason  of  the  prayers  of  the  said  bishop  and  of  all 
the  priests  and  friars.  .  .  .  Now,  therefore,  when  the  tumult  was 
over,  the  Signori  Nove  took  counsel  concerning  the  said  battle  and 
slaughter  and  arson  .  .  .  and  it  was  resolved  that  henceforth 
they  should  play  no  more  at  the  pugna."* 

A  courageous  resolution,  but  without  other  than 
temporary  effect!  These  hand-to-hand  struggles  not 
only  suited  the  vigorous  temper  of  the  time,  but  were 
favored  and  perpetuated  by  the  strong  sectional  feeling 
among  the  city  wards  or  terzi.  Hence  pugna  remained 
a  national  diversion  far  into  the  Renaissance,  and  when 
during  the  siege  of  1555  the  citizens  wished  to  honor 
the  representative  whom  the  French  king  had  sent 
among  them  to  strengthen  them  in  their  resistance, 
they  introduced  the  magnanimous  Sieur  de  Monluc  to 
an  exhibition  of  their  ancient  pastime.f 

Elmora  and  pugna  do  not  complete  the  tale  of  Sienese 
national  games.  Because  of  the  relative  infrequency 
with  which  it  was  played  I  pass  over  pallone,  one  of  the 
many  variants  of  mediaeval  foot-ball,  in  order  to  fix  my 
attention  on  horse-racing,  a  sport  deeply  rooted  in 
popular  devotion.  Throughout  Italy  horse-races  were 
commonly  designated  as  palii  from  the  rectangular  piece 
of  silk,  brocade,  or  other  material  (palio)  which  was 
given  to  the  winner  as  a  prize.  Of  the  existence  of  a 
Sienese  palio  there  is  record  as  early  as  the  year  1238, 
and  characteristically  enough  the  first  known  palio  was 

*  The  above  translation  is  from  Heywood,  "  Palio  and  Ponte,"  p  186.     The 
original  is  in  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  V,  174. 

f  Sozzini,  "Diario  Delle  Cose  Avvenute,"  p.  354. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  345 

run  in  connection  with  the  festival  of  August,  held  in 
honor  of  the  Virgin  Mary.*  This  latter  circumstance 
should  be  noticed,  for  it  brings  to  our  attention  that  the 
palio  was  never  merely  a  horse-race — a  secular  sporting 
fixture — but  a  feature  in  a  great  religious  celebration 
as  well.  In  the  course  of  the  trecento  not  only  did  the 
August  race  become  annual,  but,  owing  to  the  growing 
popularity  of  this  form  of  sport  with  all  classes  of  the 
population,  additional  palii  were  gradually  instituted 
by  the  commune.  In  the  later  period  of  the  republic 
as  many  as  four  palii,  all  like  their  prototype  of  Mid- 
August  religio-secular  events,  were  run  annually  under 
the  auspices  of  the  government,  f 

These  races,  open  to  all  comers,  were  run  by  the  best 
horses  and  jockeys  which  Italy  commanded.  For  this 
reason  they  were  run  alia  lunga,  that  is,  on  a  straight- 
away course  as  far  as  the  circumstances  permitted. 
In  the  early  period  the  highway  outside  the  Porta 
Camellia  seems  to  have  enjoyed  a  preference,  but,  later 
on,  probably  owing  to  the  desire  to  let  as  large  a  number 
of  people  as  possible  share  in  the  spectacle,  a  city  course 
was  mapped  out,  extending  from  Porta  Romana  to  the 
cathedral  square  and  marked  by  not  a  few  dangerous 
slopes  and  turns.  In  the  days  of  their  splendor  the 
palii  were  held  in  such  high  honor  that  the  greatest 
lords  of  Italy  were  proud  to  compete  in  them,  and  sur- 
viving records  apprise  us  that  such  men  as  Pietro 


*  Heywood,  "Palio  and  Ponte,"  p.  62. 

t  The  four  palii  of  the  last  phase  of  the  republic  were:  The  palio  of  the 
Blessed  Ambrogio  Sansedoni  on  the  3oth  of  March;  the  palio  of  Saint  Mary 
Magdalene  on  the  22nd  of  July;  the  palio  of  Our  Lady  of  Mid-August;  and 
the  palio  of  San  Pietro  Alessandrino  on  the  26th  of  November.  Heywood, 
"  Palio  and  Ponte,"  p.  89. 


346  SIENA 

Gambacorti  of  Pisa,  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and  Caesar 
Borgia  sent  the  best  blood  of  their  stables  to  capture  the 
coveted  banner.  Thus  matters  stood  till  the  fall  of  the 
republic  (1555),  when  with  the  decay  of  the  national 
spirit  the  palii  fell  into  gradual  disuse  and  were  aban- 
doned, all  except  the  original  palio,  the  palio  of  Mid- 
August.  Owing  to  its  connection  with  the  annual 
ceremonies  conducted  in  honor  of  the  liege-lady  of  the 
town,  it  managed  to  survive,  dragging  on  an  increasingly 
unnoticed  existence  till  far  into  the  nineteenth  century 
when  by  general  consent  it  was  quietly  suppressed.* 

"The  palio  of  Mid-August  suppressed  ?"  I  hear  an 
exasperated  reader  remarking  who  may  have  seen  it 
with  his  own  eyes  no  later  than  last  summer.  It  is  even 
as  I  say:  the  palio  alia  lunga,  dating  back  tc  the  thir- 
teenth century  and  run  with  high-bred  horses  in  order  to 
test  their  speed  and  endurance,  is  now  no  more.  There 
is  indeed  still  a  palio  of  Mid-August,  one  of  the  brightest 
spectacles  withal  the  summer  sun  looks  down  upon  in 
its  circuit  of  the  glad  earth,  but  except  for  a  few  points 
of  external  resemblance,  it  is  not  related  to  the  palio  of 
the  Middle  Age.  The  modern  race,  run  on  August 
1 6th,  the  day  after  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  was 
instituted  not  earlier  than  the  seventeenth  century  by 
the  ward  or  district  societies  of  Siena  called  contrade.^ 
Of  these  societies  there  are  seventeen,  and  for  over  two 
hundred  years  they  have,  with  very  few  interruptions, 


*  Heywood,  "Palio  and  Ponte,"  pp.  89-90. 

fThe  attempt  has  been  made  to  identify  the  contrade  with  the  ancient 
military  companies  of  the  dugento.  Signor  Lisini  has  successfully  exploded 
this  view  ("Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  I,  26;  IV,  67-69).  The  contrade  are  societies 
formed  in  the  fifteenth  century — they  are  first  mentioned  in  1482 — for  the 
purpose  of  sharing  in  and  increasing  the  splendor  of  public  festivals. 


MANNERS  AND  PASTIMES  347 

conducted  this  contest  of  August  i6th,  as  well  as  a  simi- 
lar one  on  July  2nd,  the  day  of  the  Visitation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin.  The  two  modern  palii,  as  not  concerned 
with  the  matter  of  this  book,  I  shall  not  undertake  to 
describe  further  than  to  point  out  how  they  differ  from 
the  similarly  named  events  of  an  earlier  period.  To 
begin  with  they  are  not  primarily  horse-races  at  all. 
Horses  indeed  contest  in  them — and  for  the  prize  of  a 
banner — but  every  ancient  cab-horse  tottering  on  the 
verge  of  the  boneyard  is  considered  good  enough  for  the 
event,  and  blooded  stock  is  on  no  account  brought  to  the 
starting-post.  The  fact  that  the  race  is  run  not  alia 
lunga,  but  alia  tonda,  that  is,  around  the  irregular  and 
sloping  course  of  the  ancient  Campo,  should  suffice  to 
prove  that  the  promoting  contrade  are  not  aiming  at  a 
horse-race  of  the  type  of  those  which  flourish  at  Epsom 
or  Latonia.  What  the  contrade  had  in  mind  from  the 
moment  of  the  inception  of  the  modern  palio  was  a 
pageant,  which  was  to  be  made  as  splendid  as  possible 
with  music,  banners,  floats,  and  richly  costumed  com- 
panies; and  with  this  spectacle  they  planned  should  be 
associated,  as  an  additional  touch  of  vivacity,  a  com- 
petitive struggle  among  the  seventeen  rival  societies. 
It  is  this  latter  circumstance,  which,  by  having  become 
through  long  established  habit  part  of  the  blood  and 
marrow  of  every  born  Sienese,  contributes  the  real 
flavor  to  the  events  of  July  and  and  August  i6th;  it 
and  it  alone  explains  why  the  modern  palii  continue  to 
thrive  lustily  in  a  time  inwardly  hostile  to  the  ceremonial 
inheritance  of  the  past.* 

*  I  am  the  more  ready  to  deny  myself  the  pleasure  of  entering  upon  the 
story  and  description  of  the  modern  palio  as  this  theme  has  inspired  the  pens 


348  SIENA 

Thus  we  see  that  while  tournaments  were  often  cele- 
brated on  the  Campo,  the  original  horse-races  were  run 
elsewhere.  Still  the  life  of  the  mediaeval  town  was  to  an 
extraordinary  extent  concentrated  in  the  ample  square. 
Every  week  of  the  year  market  was  held  there,  market 
for  vegetables,  fish,  and  for  a  long  time  even  for  cattle, 
while  a  good  part  of  the  space  was  permanently  leased 
out  at  a  stipulated  sum  per  square  yard  (a  misura  di 
braccia)  to  bakers,  cobblers,  coopers,  and  other  shop- 
keepers and  artisans.*  Considering  the  unsatisfactory 
sanitary  conditions  of  the  average  mediaeval  town,  we 
shall  doubtless  be  disposed  to  hold  that  whatever 
picturesqueness  was  gained  by  this  crowding  of  business 
at  a  central  point  was  heavily  paid  for  with  the  accumu- 
lation of  every  variety  of  filth.  In  fact,  on  the  side  of 
cleanliness,  the  piazza  for  a  long  time  left  much  to  be 
desired,  as  we  may  convincingly  gather  from  a  docu- 
ment of  1296,  which  makes  clear  that  the  work  of  re- 
moving the  market-waste  was  chiefly  performed  by  a 
troop  of  roaming  hogs.f  None  the  less,  higher  stan- 
dards of  municipal  decency  began  to  impose  themselves, 
with  the  result  that  before  the  fourteenth  century  had 
run  its  course,  all  the  squares  and  streets  of  the  city  were 
paved  with  brick  or  stone,  and  were  kept  tolerably 
clean  by  ordinances  which  laid  the  obligation  of  remov- 
ing the  dust  and  dirt  before  each  house  upon  the  owner. 

A  citizen  of  the  twentieth  century,  however,  if  he 

of  two  of  the  most  attractive  writers  on  matters  Sienese.  No  visitor  of  Siena 
should  fail  to  read  Signer  Riccardo  Brogi's  amusing  "II  Palio  di  Siena"  and 
Mr.  Heywood's  "Our  Lady  of  August  and  the  Palio  of  Siena,"  revised  and 
reprinted  as  a  section  of  a  more  recent  book,  "Palio  and  Ponte." 

*  Zdekauer,  "La  Vita  Pubblica  nel  Dugento,"  p,  113  (Conferenza  di  1897). 

t  The  document  mentions  unam  troiam  et  quattuor  porcellos.  See 
Appendice  VI  of  Zdekauer's  Conferenza  of  1897. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  349 

could  have  visited  the  Campo  of  the  trecento,  would 
have  had  his  curiosity  aroused  by  nothing  so  much  as 
by  a  sort  of  stockade  roofed  over  with  canvas,  which 
any  native  would  have  told  him  was  the  baratteria — the 
public  gambling  den.  A  gambling  establishment  con- 
ceded for  a  stipulated  sum  to  a  group  of  promoters 
may  come  with  the  shock  of  surprise  to  those  of  us  who 
habitually  see  the  Middle  Age  adorned  with  a  halo  of 
righteousness.  And  yet,  though  modern  opinion  would 
not  hesitate  to  declare  the  improvised  structure  of  the 
Campo  a  house  of  evil  manners,  historical  investigation 
has  established  that  the  licensed  baratteria  represents 
a  distinct  improvement  over  the  rough  and  ready 
practices  of  earlier  times. 

The  morality  of  the  Middle  Age  was  not  opposed  to 
gambling.  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  the  highest  theolog- 
ical authority  of  the  age,  expressly  declared  that  games 
of  chance  were  not  in  themselves  bad,  but  that  they  were 
made  so  through  certain  circumstances  (accid entice) 
attending  them,  such  as  fraud  and  blasphemy.*  Ac- 
cordingly the  earliest  Sienese  statutes  which  have 
reached  us  authorize  gambling,  provided  it  takes  place 
at  daytime  and  in  the  city  streets  (in  viis  publicis  et 
palani).-\  Under  conditions  of  publicity,  it  was  prob- 
ably imagined  that  fraud  and  blasphemy,  the  really 
objectionable  features,  would  be  eliminated,  or  at  least 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  These  tolerant  views  enabled 
gamblers  in  Siena  and  elsewhere  to  organize  as  a  regular 

*  Zdekauer,  "II  Giuoco  in  Italia  nei  secoli  XIII  e  XIV."  Arch,  Stor.  It. 
Tomo,  XVIII.  Anno  1886,  pp.  21,  49.  This  effective  article  has  established 
our  knowledge  of  mediaeval  gambling  on  new  and  solid  foundations. 

t  Ibid.,  p.  23.  Another  paragraph  inveighs  against  playing  nocturno 
tempo. 


350  SIENA 

guild  or  corporation,  which,  in  view  of  the  vile  riff-raff 
composing  it,  was  naturally  held  in  general  contempt. 
Such  was  the  status  in  Siena  of  games  of  chance  until 
we  reach  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Owing  to 
the  gradual  enlightenment  of  public  opinion,  the 
restrictions  upon  gambling  had  been  growing  more  and 
more  numerous  until  in  1295,  in  an  access  of  virtue,  the 
practice  was  entirely  forbidden  by  a  sweeping  municipal 
ordinance.  When  this  action  was  promptly  rescinded, 
because  it  was  found  to  do  no  more  than  to  drive  the 
games  and  those  who  lived  upon  them  underground,  the 
commune  reauthorized  the  current  vice,  but,  in  the  hope 
of  better  regulation,  concentrated  it,  as  far  as  possible, 
at  a  single  point.  Out  of  these  circumstances  and 
considerations  arose  that  curious  institution,  the  barat- 
teria  of  Siena,  which,  if  we  will  imagine  ourselves  to  be 
strolling  around  the  Campo  of  the  fourteenth  century 
with  the  holiday  crowd  come  to  attend  the  August  fair, 
we  should  come  upon,  conspicuous  with  awning  and 
banner  and  surrounded  by  an  excited  multitude,  not  far 
from  the  central  position  occupied  by  Fonte  Gaia. 

Much  matter  which  the  student  of  manners  is  likely  to 
find  highly  entertaining  has  recently  been  collected  on 
mediaeval  games  of  chance.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that 
such  games  fall  into  two  main  groups,  the  first  played 
with  dice  alone,  the  second  with  figures  or  men*  In  a 
period  when,  as  we  have  just  seen,  there  was  no 
objection  in  principle  to  dicing,  and  when,  further, 
young  and  old  habitually  gave  vent  to  their  emo- 
tions with  a  fervor  which  no  exercise  of  reason 
checked,  the  crush  and  excitement  around  the  Sienese 

*Zdekauer,  "II  Ginoco"  etc.  p.  7. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  351 

gambling  booth  must  have  been  constant  and  con- 
siderable. At  Grosseto,  Magliano,  Montalcino,  and 
a  dozen  other  places  of  the  contado,  similar  scenes  took 
place,  for  each  dependent  town  had  a  baratteria  on  the 
Sienese  model  conducted  by  some  lessee  who  bought 
the  privilege  from  the  republic.  Add  that  at  Florence, 
Lucca,  Pistoia,  and  other  centres  of  Tuscany,  the  same 
gambling  frenzy  had  led  to  the  same  arrangements,  and 
we  can  appreciate  to  how  common  an  experience  Dante 
appealed  when  he  described  the  press  of  the  shades  in 
purgatory  around  himself  by  casting  up  a  marvellously 
vivid  picture  of  //  giuoco  della  zara*  Zara,  a  game  of 
dice,  the  key  to  which  we  no  longer  possess,  f  seems  to 
have  wrought  immense  havoc  among  the  young  and 
spendthrift,  and  in  the  period  when  restrictions  began, 
was  put  under  special  disabilities  in  favor  of  games  with 
some  intellectual  content,  such  as  chess  and  back- 
gammon. But  although  games  with  men  were  en- 
couraged by  the  government  and  were,  indeed,  extremely 
popular,  the  wild  passion  for  dice  persisted  even  among 
the  upper  classes,  as  is  plentifully  attested  by  fourteenth 
century  literature.  $ 

It  is  interesting  to  speculate  whether  the  official 
gambling  booth  in  the  Campo  was  permitted  to  drive 
its  unpleasant  trade  all  the  year  round,  spreading  its  lure 

*  "Purgatorio,"  VI,  p.  i. 

t  For  some  account  of  Zara  see  Zdekauer,  pp.  7-8.  The  game  has  given  us 
our  word  hazard. 

%  To  let  one  instance  serve  for  many,  see  the  gay  picture  of  the  Mercato 
Vecchio  developed  by  the  Florentine  poet,  Pucci  (died  about  1373).  He 
sings  of  the  beauty  of  the  old  piazza  on  an  autumn  day: 

"Quando  de'  tordi  son,  sempre  n'e  piena 
La  bella  piazza,  e  molti  gentilotli 
Co'  dodi  in  man,  fan  desinare  e  <-p,na." 


352  SIENA 

even  during  the  sacre  rap  presentation^  which,  in  Easter 
week  or  on  other  Christian  holidays,  were  occasionally 
given  in  the  piazza.  There  is  nothing  in  mediaeval 
morals  which  would  have  caused  any  one  to  be  particu- 
larly shocked  by  such  an  association.  At  any  rate, 
whether  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  rattle  of  dice  or 
not,  following  a  very  prevalent  custom  of  the  age,  re- 
ligous  plays  were  given  from  time  to  time  on  a  temporary 
stage  erected  on  the  Campo.  At  first  these  representa- 
tions took  the  form  of  simple  scenes,  such  as  Christ's 
Birth  or  Resurrection,  selected  with  reference  to  the 
season  of  the  year;  later,  whole  miracle  plays  were 
produced,  enriched  with  song  and  dialogue,  and  repre- 
senting a  dramatic  version  of  some  impressive  Bible 
story.*  But  nowhere  in  Italy,  and  certainly  not  in 
Siena,  did  these  enjoy  the  favor  and  exhibit  the  vitality 
which  in  northern  Europe  enabled  them  to  serve  as 
the  nucleus  of  one  of  the  most  wonderful  forms  of 
modern  artistic  expression,  the  drama.  The  feebleness 
of  the  Italian  drama  during  the  Renaissance,  a  feeble- 
ness which  is  the  more  astonishing  in  the  light  of  the 
brilliant  contribution  made  by  the  people  of  the  pe- 
ninsula to  every  other  department  of  art,  is  explained 
by  the  failure  of  the  nation  to  develop  the  opportunity 
extended  by  the  miracles  and  moralities  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical stage. 

For  some  unfathomable  reason  the  sacre  rappresenta- 
zioni  of  the  trecento  did  not  appeal  to  the  Sienese 
imagination,  and  tended  to  become  less  and  less  fre- 
quent.f     In   consequence   Siena   produced   no   drama 

*  Falletti-Fossati,  "Costumi  Senesi,"  p.  ig$ff. 

f  Lisini  shows  ("Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  V,  23)  that  miracle  plays  continued 


MANNERS   AND   PASTIMES  353 

worth  mentioning — an  accident,  we  might  be  inclined 
to  argue,  if  we  did  not  have  to  acknowledge  that,  in 
spite  of  its  many  gifts,  this  people  was  never  strongly 
drawn  to  any  form  of  literature  whatsoever,  and  that  it 
failed  to  produce  a  single  poet  or  writer  rising  above  the 
common  stature.  A  review  of  Sienese  literature,  there- 
fore, is  neither  a  heavy  nor  a  very  inspiring  task.  In 
connection  with  certain  aspects  of  Sienese  knighthood, 
I  mentioned  Dante's  contemporary,  the  poet  Folgore 
from  San  Gimignano.  He  will  be  found  of  exceeding 
interest  in  affording  glimpses  of  Sienese  life,  but  in  view 
of  his  origin  he  can  not  fairly  be  assigned  a  place  among 
purely  Sienese  authors.  This  is  not  the  case  with 
Cecco  Angiolieri  (died  1312?),  another  contemporary 
of  the  great  Florentine.  Cecco  was  a  Sienese  born  and 
bred,  and  contributed  in  his  sole  person  a  considerable 
section  of  what  there  is  to  the  literature  of  his  native 
town.  In  sharp  contrast  with  Folgore,  who  dwelt  among 
the  lofty  concepts  of  chivalry  and  composed  his  sonnets 
under  the  spell  of  the  troubadours  and  trouveres  and 
their  Italian  imitators,  Cecco  sounded  the  realistic 
note  of  the  rising  middle  classes,  curiously  modified  by 
an  element  of  individual  lawlessness  and  literary  bohe- 
mianism.  Rossetti,  for  whom  he  is  "the  scamp  of 
Dante's  circle,"  speaks,  not  without  admiration,  of 
"his  natural  bent  to  ruin."  In  fact  it  is  the  utterly 
frank  disclosure  of  his  wild  passions  which  recommends 
him  to  us  of  a  later  time  as  the  singer  of  certain  true, 
though  by  no  means  admirable,  emotions  of  the  human 

to  be  given  in  the  quattrocento,  but  in  a  closed  room  and  before  a  small 
audience.  All  this  proves  that  they  failed  to  take  root  in  popular  favor — the 
capital  difference  between  them  and  the  same  variety  of  amusement  among 
the  transalpine  nations. 


354  SIENA 

breast.  To  read  him  in  company  with  his  contempora- 
ries is  to  grow  aware  that  he  is,  within  the  small  and 
sinister  circle  of  his  thoughts,  more  direct  and  vivid 
than  any  poet  of  his  age  with  the  notable  exception,  of 
course,  of  the  incomparable  Florentine.  In  the  spirit 
of  the  boastful  tavern  brawler  Cecco  ventured  to 
resent  a  real  or  fancied  slur  addressed  to  him  by  Dante, 
and  did  not  scruple  to  revenge  himself  upon  the  great 
Ghibelline  with  some  impertinent  verses.  He  sang  with 
frank  indelicacy  the  material  charms  of  the  pretty 
Becchina;  he  gambled,  got  drunk  and  was  arrested; 
he  venomously  defamed  his  father  and  mother;  he 
showed  his  fangs  to  Dante — such  was  Cecco  Angiolieri, 
decidedly  something  of  a  jail-bird,  but  also,  by  reason  of 
his  strict  avoidance  of  the  romantic  make-believe  which 
was  the  stock-in-trade  of  so  many  contemporary  poet- 
asters, an  authentic  son  of  the  muse.* 

In  Cecco's  generation,  a  generation  which  has  the 

*  In  order  that  the  reader  may  have  a  taste  of  Cecco's  peculiar  quality, 
made  up  in  about  equal  proportions  of  swagger,  cynicism,  and  genuine  humor, 
I  quote  one  of  his  sonnets  in  Rossetti's  exquisitely  delicate  translation: 

"If  I  were  fire,  I'd  burn  the  world  away; 

If  I  were  wind,  I'd  turn  my  storms  thereon; 
If  I  were  water,  I'd  soon  let  it  drown; 
If  I  were  God,  I'd  sink  it  from  the  day; 
If  I  were  Pope,  I'd  never  feel  quite  gay 

Until  there  was  no  peace  beneath  the  sun; 
If  I  were  Emperor,  what  would  I  have  done?— 
I'd  lop  men's  heads  all  round  in  my  own  way. 
If  I  were  Death,  I'd  look  my  father  up; 

If  I  were  Life,  I'd  run  away  from  him; 
And  treat  my  mother  to  like  calls  and  runs. 
If  I  were  Cecco  (and  that's  all  my  hope), 

I'd  pick  the  nicest  girls  to  suit  my  whim, 
And  other  folk  should  get  the  ugly  ones." 

The  best  edition  to  consult  is  I  Sonetti  di  Cecco  Angiolieri  .  .  .  per  cura 
di  A.  F.  Massera.  Rossetti  has  translated  twenty-one  sonnets,  of  which  it  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  they  do  not  fall  below  the  original. 


MANNERS  AND   PASTIMES  355 

distinction  not  only  of  having  produced  some  of  the 
greatest  poetry  of  all  time,  but  also  of  having  given  the 
Italian  language  its  literary  form,  other  poets,  as,  for 
instance,  Bindo  Bonichi  (d.  1337),  flourished  in  Siena, 
but  little  from  their  hand  has  come  down  to  us.  Unde- 
niably the  share  of  Siena  in  Italian  verse  is  small. 
Presently  Italian  prose  began  its  career,  and  in  this 
department  the  Sienese  contribution,  if  not  widely  signif- 
icant, is  at  least  not  without  a  considerable  local  interest. 
Starting  with  private  letters  and  tongue-tied  chronicles 
— from  many  of  these  belonging  to  a  later  period  of  re- 
latively high  expressiveness  I  have  had  occasion  to 
quote — Sienese  prose  reached  its  culmination,  as  far  as 
the  Middle  Age  is  concerned,  in  the  Letters  of  Saint 
Catherine  (1347-80),*  the  "Assempri"  of  Era  Filippo 
Agazzari  (1339-1422)^  and  the  sermons  of  San  Ber- 
nardino Albizzeschi  (1380-1444)4  All  of  these  have 
an  immense  philological  importance  as  testi  di  lingua; 
all  of  them  are  invaluable  to  the  student  of  manners  by 
reason  of  the  lifelike  glimpses  they  afford  of  a  fascinat- 
ing period;  but  they  have  not,  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  Saint  Catherine's  Letters,  a  place  in  that  realm 
of  pure  literature  which  lives  for  its  own  sake  and 
embraces  the  best  of  what  has  been  thought  and  written 
in  all  ages.  This  subtraction  made,  the  fact  remains 
that  the  investigator,  engaged  in  establishing  the  ways 
in  which  men  lived  in  the  trecento  and  early  quattro- 


*  On  Saint  Catherine  see  chap.  9. 

fThe  "Assempri"  are  popular  sermons,  composed  largely  of  tales  and 
anecdotes  pointing  a  lesson.  They  were  published  in  1864  by  C.  F.  Carpel- 
lini.  Some  of  them  have  been  translated  and  ably  commented  by  Heywood 
in  his  The  "Ensamples"  of  Fra  Filippo. 

J  On  him  and  his  sermons  see  chap.  14. 


356  SIENA 

cento,  can  not  do  better  than  to  give  the  closest  possible 
study  to  the  works  of  the  above-named  religious  ex- 
horters  and  critics.* 

Meanwhile  Boccaccio,  down  at  Florence,  which  in 
matters  literary  set  the  tone  for  all  Italy,  had  popular- 
ized the  novella.  As  this  form  of  expression  rapidly 
took  possession  of  the  general  fancy,  it  was  only  natural 
that  an  occasional  Sienese  should  try  his  skill  at  the 
production  of  short  tales.  About  the  year  1425  Gentile 
Sermini  composed  his  forty  stories,f  while  to  the  same 
general  period  belongs  ./Eneas  Silvius  Piccolomini's 
(Pope  Pius  II)  Storia  di  due  amanti.%  If  these  works, 
as  regards  their  moral  tone,  are  not  precisely  edifying, 
they  are  decency  itself  compared  with  the  productions 
of  such  later  novellieri  as  Giustiniano  Nelli  and  Pietro 
Fortini,  who  illustrate  the  unbridled  license,  as  well  as 
the  essential  hollowness,  of  the  full  Renaissance.  In 
this  field,  quite  as  much  as  in  the  field  of  the  Christian 
moralists,  the  productions  which  have  reached  us  furnish 
an  interesting  comment  on  Sienese  life,  but  it  would  be 
absurd  to  judge  them  as  worthy,  on  the  literary  and 
aesthetic  side,  of  being  classed  with  the  Decameron. § 

*  Whoever  desires  to  know  what  place  these  writers  hold  in  the  literary 
history  of  Italy  may  consult  Bartoli,  "Storia  della  Letteratura  Italiana,"  or 
Gaspary,  "Geschichte  der  Ital.  Literatur." 

t  "Le  Novelle  di  Gentile  Sermini  ora  per  la  prima  volta,"  etc.,  Livorno, 
1874. 

J  Written  originally  in  Latin.  ^Eneas,  the  humanist,  held  Italian  to  be  an 
inferior  literary  medium. 

§  Following  literature,  a  people  usually  develops  scholarship — a  thing  like 
literature  and  yet  distinct  from  it.  But  the  history  of  Sienese  scholarship 
would  lead  me  too  far.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  Renaissance  produced  the 
first  serious  students  of  history  in  Sigismondo  Tizio  (d.  1528),  Orlando 
Malavolti  (1515-96),  and  Giugurta  Tommasi  (d.  1620).  Each  of  these  men 
produced  a  history  of  Siena  of  a  high  order  of  thoroughness,  if  not  of  literary 
skill. 


MANNERS  AND  PASTIMES  357 

Perhaps  one  reason  for  the  relatively  low  level  main- 
tained by  Sienese  literature  is  that  this  lively  and  sensu- 
ous people  had  neither  the  patience  nor  the  inclination 
for  that  mental  discipline  which  can  be  acquired  only 
by  means  of  hard,  desperate,  and  persistent  labor. 
This  opinion  of  the  small  enthusiasm  of  the  Sienese 
for  matters  intellectual  would  appear  to  be  borne  out 
by  the  story  of  the  local  university,  lo  studio  di  Siena. 
Before  the  year  1250  we  have  notice  of  masters  employed 
by  the  republic  to  give  instruction  in  grammar  (Latin), 
medicine,  and  law,  and  from  that  early  period  the  state 
was  at  some  pains  to  develop  a  seat  of  learning  in  its 
midst  which  should  rival  the  universities  of  Bologna 
and  Padua.  But  though  by  no  means  despicable  the 
studio  never  exercised  much  influence  beyond  the 
circuit  of  the  walls,  and,  even  within  this  narrow  range, 
it  served  frankly  the  primary  end  of  supplying  the  town 
with  lawyers  and  doctors.*  When,  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, the  new  learning  began  to  flourish,  the  Sienese 
teaching  was  necessarily  influenced  by  it,  but  the  chief 
effect  from  the  presence  in  the  town  of  an  occasional 
humanist  like  Filelfo  would  appear  to  have  been  an  in- 
creased laxity  of  morals.  At  any  rate  the  designation 
"Soft  Siena"  (molles  Sena)  owes  both  its  currency  and 
justification  to  this  time.  The  learned  Sienese,  Pope 
Pius  II,  acquired  his  really  admirable  culture  more  by 
reason  of  travel  than  by  his  steady  attendance  upon  the 
lectures  at  the  university  of  his  native  town,  but  it  is 
perhaps  no  more  than  fair  to  admit  that  he  may  have  re- 


*  On  the  studio  see  Zdekauer,  "Sulle  Origini  dello  Studio  di  Siena"  and 
"Lo  Studio  di  Siena  nel  Rinascimento";  also,  Sanesi,  "Documenti  per  la 
storia  della  R.  Universita  di  Siena."  Arch..  Stor.  It.  Tomo.  XXVII,  1901. 


358  SIENA 

ceived  his  first  scholarly  impulses  from  the  local  masters. 
Making  all  possible  allowances,  we  can  not  but  find  the 
story  of  the  studio  decidedly  meagre.  Admitting  that 
it  satisfied  the  narrow  purpose  of  turning  out  a  body  of 
reasonably  trained  professional  men,  the  fact  remains 
that  it  did  not  in  any  notable  way  advance  the  intel- 
lectual life  of  contemporary  Italy. 

Consideration  of  such  matters  as  these  will  always 
bring  us  back  to  a  previous  reflection :  the  gifts  of  the 
Sienese  were  not  eminently  intellectual.  As  soon  as 
Siena  fell  behind  in  the  economic  and  political  race 
among  the  Italian  states,  her  mental  fibre  was  exposed 
to  decay  from  lack  of  hardy  exercise.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  chief  reason  for  the  slow  pulse-beat  of  Sienese 
thought.  With  the  inclination  to  inertia  once  estab- 
lished, a  dozen  other  influences,  above  all,  the  highly 
conservative  influence  of  the  church,  came  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  original  tendency.  We  noticed  in  treating 
of  Sienese  art  that  a  curious  self-satisfaction  on  the  part 
of  the  artists  induced  them  to  adopt  an  unfriendly  atti- 
tude toward  the  new  ideals  of  the  Renaissance,  and  that 
by  virtue  of  their  quattrocento  contributions  to  the 
realm  of  painting  the  Sienese  proclaimed  themselves 
essentially  a  provincial  folk.  Nothing  brings  this  fact 
out  more  clearly  than  a  story  which  is  related  by  the 
Florentine  Ghiberti  and  which,  as  a  most  delightfully 
apposite  characterization  of  the  mercurial  temper  and 
mental  philistinism  of  the  Sienese,  I  set  down  here  as 
my  final  word  on  the  subject. 

Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  the  Florentine  sculptor  of  the  fa- 
mous bronze  gates  of  his  native  Baptistery,  wrote  before 
his  death  some  very  interesting  Commentaries  upon  art, 


MANNERS  AND  PASTIMES  359 

in  the  course  of  which  he  narrates  that,  once  on  a  visit 
to  Siena,  he  was  shown  a  beautiful  drawing  from  the 
hand  of  Ambrogio  Lorenzetti  of  a  Greek  statue  existent 
in  Ambrogio's  day  and  afterward  destroyed.  His  infor- 
mant told  him  that  the  statue  had  been  accidentally  dug 
up  in  Siena  a  hundred  years  before,  and  had  aroused 
tremendous  enthusiasm,  not  only  among  the  painters 
and  goldsmiths  of  the  town,  but  also  among  the  com- 
mon people.  Amidst  universal  rejoicing  it  had  been  es- 
corted to  the  Campo,  and  there  set  up  over  the  new 
fountain,  the  Fonte  Gaia,  which  had  just  been  inaugu- 
rated and  which  lacked  as  yet  the  monumental  setting 
created  by  Jacopo  della  Quercia.  On  the  strength  of 
the  drawing  put  into  his  hands,  Ghiberti  assigned  the 
original  to  Lysippus,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  names 
of  Greek  art,  and  from  the  description  which  he  adds 
we  are  led  to  surmise  that  the  statue  represented  the 
goddess  Aphrodite  rising  from  the  sea.  For  some  years 
the  recovered  wonder  of  antiquity  continued  to  crown 
the  Fonte  Gaia,  smilingly  prophesying  to  those  who 
could  understand  its  mysterious  language  the  coming  of 
a  new  age,  when  a  succession  of  misfortunes,  bringing 
famine  and  pestilence  in  their  wake,  roused  to  life  the 
ever  latent  forces  of  mediaeval  superstition.  In  a 
session  of  the  council  a  citizen  arose  and  spoke — I  use 
Ghiberti's  own  words — as  follows:  "'Gentlemen.  Con- 
sidering that  ever  since  we  have  set  up  this  statue  we 
have  encountered  nothing  but  ill-luck,  and,  considering 
further,  that  idolatry  is  totally  forbidden  by  our  religion, 
we  are  obliged  to  believe  that  our  adversities  have  been 
sent  us  by  God  in  punishment  for  our  sins.  As  a  matter 
of  plain  fact  no  one  will  deny  that  ever  since  we  have 


360  SIENA 

done  honor  to  the  said  statue,  matters  have  steadily 
gone  with  us  from  bad  to  worse.  MY  fixed  opinion  is 
that  as  long  as  we  keep  it  on  our  soil  misfortunes  will 
continue  to  befall  us.  Wherefore  I  move  that  it  be 
taken  down  and  broken  and  the  remnants  carried  away 
to  be  buried  in  the  territory  of  the  Florentines."  And 
Ghiberti  concludes  his  tale  by  dryly  adding  that  "the 
council  unanimously  supported  the  motion,  which  was 
accordingly  put  into  execution  by  burying  the  statue  in 
our  territory.'* 

Very  possibly  the  last  amusing  touch  about  the  final 
disposal  of  the  idolatrous  statue  is  an  invention  of 
Ghiberti's  Florentine  malice,  but  the  incident  itself  is  a 
certain  fact  of  history,  having  befallen,  as  the  documents 
prove,  in  the  year  1357.* 

Thus  perished  what  was  apparently  a  priceless  monu- 
ment of  ancient  art,  sacrificed  to  the  fickle  temper  of  a 
people,  splendidly  capable  of  occasional  bursts  of 
creative  enthusiasm,  but  not  given  to  apply  itself  with 
steady  intensity  to  a  moral  and  intellectual  task  which 
nothing  short  of  the  continued  devotion  of  many  genera- 
tions of  men  can  carry  to  a  triumphant  maturity.  The 
noble  statue  of  Lysippus,  emotionally  received  and  just 
as  emotionally  rejected,  is  more  than  an  incident:  it  is  a 
symbol — a  symbol  which  speaks  eloquently  to  us  both 
of  the  qualities  and  the  defects  of  the  lovable  but  undis- 
ciplined sons  and  daughters  of  the  Virgin. 

*  On  the  whole  incident  of  the  statue  see  "Misc.  Stor.  Sen.,"  V,  175. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SAN  GALGANO:     THE  STORY  OF  A  CISTERCIAN 
ABBEY  OF  THE  SIENESE  CONTADO 

IN  speaking  in  an  earlier  chapter  of  the  Sienese 
church,  I  took  account  of  the  important  share 
which  the  monasteries  had  in  the  official  organiza- 
tion of  religion.  I  referred  the  monastic  movement  to 
its  origin  in  the  ascetic  spirit  of  Christianity,  and  spoke 
of  the  successive  waves  in  which  the  movement  would 
rise  from  time  to  time  to  a  climax,  and  leave  its  mark  on 
all  the  countries  of  Europe  in  the  shape  of  a  new  series 
of  splendid  edifices  devoted  to  the  service  of  God. 
Because  the  story  of  a  monastery  affords  a  peculiarly 
significant  glimpse  of  the  Middle  Age,  I  purpose  now  to 
follow  such  an  institution  in  detail;  and  further,  because 
no  monastery  of  the  Sienese  territory  maintained  more 
intimate  relations  with  the  city  of  Siena  than  the  abbey 
of  San  Galgano,  and  since  no  other  surpasses  it  in  fair- 
ness of  site  or  can  compare  with  it  in  beauty  of  archi- 
tecture, from  the  long  list  of  Sienese  foundations,  which 
includes  such  famous  names  as  San  Salvatore  on  Monte 
Amiata,  Sant*  Antimo  near  Montalcino,  Lecceto,  lying 
a  short  journey  outside  the  gate  of  Fonte  Branda,  and 
Monte  Oliveto  near  Buonconvento,  I  shall  select  San 
Galgano  in  order  to  show  by  a  specific  example  how  a 
monastery  came  into  being,  how  it  grew  in  usefulness 

361 


362  SIENA 

and  honors,  and  how  with  the  sapping  of  its  spirit  in  the 
period  of  the  Renaissance,  it  settled  into  irretrievable 
decline. 

For  the  student  of  monasticism  no  order  of  the  twelfth 
century  can  vie  in  importance  with  that  of  the  Cister- 
cians. Founded  at  Citeaux  in  Burgundy  as  a  reformed 
offshoot  of  the  Benedictines,  they  immediately  achieved 
great  honor  through  one  of  their  early  leaders,  Saint 
Bernard,  who  not  only  personally  called  into  being  the 
great  abbey  of  Clairvaux,  but  who,  by  reason  of  his 
wide  reputation  for  wisdom  and  holiness,  popularized 
the  order  throughout  Europe.  Monks  from  Citeaux, 
Clairvaux,  and  other  French  foundations  penetrated 
into  the  neighboring  countries,  and  were  received  with 
such  favor  that  before  the  new  movement  celebrated  its 
centenary  it  could  boast  a  roster  of  eight  hundred  rich 
and  flourishing  abbeys.  In  Italy  successful  houses 
already  existed  at  Fossanova,  Casamari,  and  other 
places,  when  a  peculiarly  inviting  set  of  circumstances 
secured  to  the  brothers  a  foothold  in  Southern  Tuscany. 

In  the  wooded  upland  country,  in  which  the  Merse 
river  begins  its  winding  course,  lies  the  little  town  of 
Chiusdino,  crowning  a  hill,  which  is  remarkable,  like 
almost  all  the  dwelling-places  of  mediaeval  men,  by 
reason  of  its  wide  survey  and  splendid  inaccessibility. 
In  the  twelfth  century,  when  our  story  begins,  Chiusdino 
with  the  neighboring  hills  and  valleys  belonged  to  the 
diocese  of  the  bishop  of  Volterra,  who,  under  the  added 
title  of  count  of  the  empire,  exercised  also  civil  authority 
in  this  region.  Here,  shortly  after  the  year  1 180,  tidings 
of  strange  and  miraculous  import  began  to  pass  from 
mouth  to  mouth.  The  simple  peasant  folk  told  one 


bO 

13 

O 


U 


-o 


SAN  GALGANO  363 

another  as  they  sat  before  their  doors  at  eventide  or 
paced  the  road  together  to  the  neighboring  market,  that 
a  knight,  Galgano  by  name  and  a  citizen  of  Chiusdino, 
forswearing  the  delights  of  the  flesh,  had  abandoned 
family  and  friends,  that  he  had  gone  to  dwell  as  an 
anchorite  in  the  forest  solitudes  around  his  home,  and 
that  when,  after  a  year  of  unexampled  hardships,  he 
had  died  and  been  buried,  immediately,  in  sign  of  the 
favor  which  he  enjoyed  with  the  Lord,  wonderful 
cures  began  to  be  effected  at  his  tomb.  Presently,  a 
pious  stream  of  pilgrimage  began  to  flow  toward  Monte 
Siepi,  as  the  wooded  hill  was  called  which  was  the 
scene  of  the  good  man's  rigorous  self-discipline,  as  well 
as  the  place  of  his  burial.*  This  spontaneous  venera- 
tion, which  has  numerous  counterparts  throughout 
Europe  and  brings  home  to  us  the  passionate  attach- 
ment of  mediaeval  folk  to  all  the  material  manifestations 
of  holiness,  not  only  met  with  no  opposition  on  the  part 
of  the  church,  but  presently  received  the  highest  possible 
endorsement  through  an  act  of  the  pope — probably  of  the 
year  1 185 — elevating  the  Chiusdino  knight  and  hermit  to 
the  ranks  of  the  saints.  Naturally  the  reputation  of  the 
newly  canonized  Galgano  was  sedulously  nursed  by  the 
leading  dignitary  of  the  region,  the  bishop  of  Volterra, 
who,  beginning  with  the  erection  of  a  simple  shrine  over 
the  grave  of  his  late  subject,  gradually  formed  the  ambi- 
tious plan  of  making  the  new  cult  serve  as  the  basis  for  a 
great  monastic  foundation.  He  communicated  with  the 
Cistercian  brothers,  always  eager  to  extend  the  influence 
of  their  order,  with  the  result  that  a  few  monks,  appar- 

*  On  the  story  of  San  Galgano,  see  Rondoni,  "Tradizioni  popolari  e  leg- 
gende  di  un  Comune  medioevale,"  p.  noff. 


364  SIENA 

ently  Frenchmen  hailing  from  Clairvaux  itself,  settled 
in  the  unpeopled  solitudes  of  Monte  Siepi.  Thus  the 
first  step  was  taken  in  the  creation  of  the  abbey  of  San 
Galgano. 

A  cartularium,  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Florence 
and  containing  the  privileges  conceded  to  the  new  foun- 
dation by  temporal  and  spiritual  rulers,  supplemented 
by  abundant  material  to  be  found  in  the  Archivio  di 
Stato  of  Siena,  makes  it  possible  to  develop  an  accurate 
picture  of  the  growth  of  the  settlement  on  Monte 
Siepi.*  The  oldest  existing  document  is  of  the  year 
1191;  it  was  issued  from  the  chancellery  of  Emperor 
Henry  VI,  and  declared  that  the  sovereign,  probably 
at  the  instigation  of  Hildebrand,  bishop  of  Volterra, 
who  signed  as  a  witness,  took  the  monks  of  San  Galgano 
hailing  from  Clairvaux  under  his  high  protection.  He 
added  the  gift  of  a  field  juxta  Abbatiam  and  solemnly 
warned  all  neighbors  not  to  "violate  our  munificence 
with  temerarious  audacity,  "f  The  imperial  shelter, 
good  so  far  as  it  went,  needed  to  be  supplemented  by  the 
more  valuable,  because  more  constant,  protection  of  the 
local  lord.  That  was  the  bishop  of  Volterra,  who,  as 
inaugurator  of  the  settlement,  was  not  likely  to  withhold 
a  liberal  support.  Accordingly,  in  the  year  1201, 
Bishop  Hildebrand,  recapitulating,  we  are  led  to  sur- 
mise, a  number  of  earlier  grants,  issued  a  comprehensive 
privilege,  in  which,  after  enumerating  a  long  list  of 
fields  and  forests  made  over  by  him  to  a  certain  Bono 

*  The  Sienese  material  is  in  three  large  folio  volumes,  called  caleffi,  and 
consists  of  about  2,250  documents.  This  material,  together  with  the  cartula- 
rium  at  Florence,  has  been  consulted  and,  in  part,  published  by  Canestrelli  in 
his  excellent  "L'Abbazia  di  San  Galgano,"  to  which  I  am  deeply  indebted. 

t  Canestrelli,  "Documento  V." 


SAN  GALGANO  365 

and  a  band  of  monks,  he  not  only  took  the  brothers  under 
his  protection,  but  promised  them  complete  liberty  in 
their  internal  affairs  together  with  freedom  from  taxa- 
tion.* Evidently  the  foundation,  favored  and  enriched 
by  the  bishop,  assured  of  a  friendly  interest  by  the  em- 
peror, was  advancing  rapidly.  To  complete  its  legal 
safeguarding  nothing  was  lacking,  according  to  medi- 
aeval ideas,  except  the  word  of  the  pope.  It  was  not  till 
the  year  1206,  fifteen  years  after  the  emperor  had  spoken 
in  the  matter  and  five  after  the  deed  of  Bishop  Hilde- 
brand,  that  Pope  Innocent  III  issued  a  bull,  declaring 
his  good -will  toward  the  enterprise  in  the  remote  hills 
of  the  upper  Merse.  Innocent  III,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, was  the  pontiff  of  fiery,  uncompromising  temper, 
under  whom  the  pretensions  of  the  papacy  to  universal 
rule  were  stretched  to  the  utmost.  The  increase  of 
monasteries,  representing  each  one  the  lighting  of  a  new 
hearth  of  religious  and,  more  particularly,  of  papal 
influence,  must  have  been  deeply  to  his  liking.  When 
he  spoke,  therefore,  though  he  spoke  tardily,  he  poured 
out  for  the  monks  of  San  Galgano  a  veritable  cornucopia 
of  bounties.  In  the  first  place,  the  head  of  the  monas- 
tery— apparently  Bono,  the  earliest  leader  of  the 
Cistercian  enterprise  of  whom  there  is  record,  had  by 
this  time  passed  away — was  no  longer  designated  as 
priest  or  prior  or  by  some  other  title  indicative  of  small 
beginnings,  but  as  abbot,  the  dignity  reserved  for  the 
chief  official  of  a  perfected  and  influential  organization. 
Proceeding,  Innocent  confirmed  all  the  possessions  of 
the  monks;  reiterated  their  freedom  from  taxation  and 
immunity  from  sentences,  pronounced  in  the  courts  of  a 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  II." 


366  SIENA 

bishop  or  any  lay  lord  whatsoever;  and  proclaimed  their 
right  to  elect  their  own  abbot  and  to  govern  themselves, 
practically  as  a  sovereign  body.*  The  new  monastic 
venture,  dedicated  to  the  high  task  of  spreading  civiliza- 
tion through  the  sparsely  settled  wilds  of  the  upper 
Merse,  was  now  as  secure  as  the  formal  authorities  of 
feudal  society  could  make  it. 

However,  no  amount  of  official  sanction  could  contrib- 
ute greatly  to  the  development  of  a  monastery,  if  the 
institution  did  not  perform  effective  service  in  the 
society  in  which  it  was  situated,  or  if  it  failed  to  enlist  the 
sympathies  and  support  of  all  classes  of  the  population. 
Only  if  these  conditions  were  satisfied  could  San  Gal- 
gano  hope  to  arouse  the  pride  and  become  identified 
with  the  patriotism  of  the  neighborhood,  thus  winning 
recruits  for  its  ranks  and  stimulating  the  stream  of 
private  contributions  necessary  for  the  realization  of  its 
Christian  programme.  Following  the  Cistercian  ideal 
this  programme  consisted  not  only  in  the  creation  of  a 
retreat  for  holy  men,  but  also  in  genuine  pioneer  labors, 
such  as  the  clearing  of  forests  and  the  bringing  of  un- 
broken land  under  the  plough.  In  all  these  respects 
the  success  of  our  monastery  in  the  first  flush  of  its 
hopeful  youth  was  conspicuous.  The  sons  of  the  neigh- 
borhood came  in  such  numbers  to  knock  for  admission 
at  the  portals  of  the  house  of  peace  that  whatever  slight 
French  character  the  personnel  of  the  first  group  of 
monks  may  have  had  was  presently  lost  to  make  room 
for  a  genuine  Tuscan  foundation.  Admitted  within  the 
walls,  the  fugitives  from  a  world  of  empty  honors  were, 
after  due  probation,  apportioned  to  one  of  two  classes: 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  XII." 


SAN  GALGANO  367 

either  they  became  spiritual  brothers  who,  as  priests, 
served  the  mass  and  attended  to  the  duties  pertaining  to 
religion,  or  they  joined  the  conversi  or  lay  brothers,  who 
tilled  the  fields  and  performed  the  various  kinds  of 
manual  labor  required  in  connection  with  the  operation 
of  a  busy  farmstead, 

In  a  society  where  men  gladly  give  their  lives  to  a 
cause  conceived  as  worthy,  they  hesitate  even  less  in 
offering  of  their  plenty.  Gifts  of  land,  bounties  of  all 
kinds,  of  which  the  record  still  exists,  were  showered 
upon  the  abbey.  While  these  benefactions  testify  to 
the  profound  conviction  of  the  Middle  Age  regarding 
the  usefulness  of  an  institution  which  no  longer  awakens 
our  enthusiasm,  their  form  betrays  the  peculiar  and,  to 
our  taste,  somewhat  unctuous  piety  of  the  period. 
According  to  mediaeval  theology,  a  gift  to  the  church 
was  a  good  work,  especially  remarked  by  God  and  sure 
to  be  taken  into  account  on  the  day  of  reckoning.  For 
this  reason  the  clergy  could,  with  perfectly  good  con- 
science moreover,  stimulate  the  charitable  instincts  of 
the  laity.  Something  of  this  desire  to  acquire  credit 
with  the  Lord,  palliated  by  a  child-like  candor,  reaches 
us  from  the  old  deeds  of  hand.  In  the  year  1196,  for 
instance,  Matilda,  described  as  daughter  of  the  departed 
Ugolihus  and  derelict  of  Guidaldonius,  and  the  first 
private  donor  of  whom  there  is  record,  presents  the 
monks  with  a  farmland,  because  "whoever  shall  con- 
tribute to  sacred  and  venerable  places  shall  receive  a 
hundredfold  and  have  eternal  life";  on  which  exordium 
she  adds,  with  simple-hearted  readiness  to  lay  bare  every 
fold  of  her  heart,  that  she  hopes  by  means  of  her  gift  to 
save  her  soul  and  that  of  her  relatives,  doubtless  the 


368  SIENA 

departed  Ugolinus  and  Guidaldonius  aforesaid.*  Many 
bequests  came  to  the  brothers  from  neighboring  Siena 
and  her  prosperous  merchants.  We  hear  of  one  com- 
mercial citizen,  a  certain  Andrea  di  Giacomo,  who  left 
as  much  as  a  thousand  lire  (libra*),  a  very  considerable 
sum,  for  the  purchase  of  a  farm  with  the  direction  that 
the  product  thereof  be  distributed  among  the  poor. 
If  this  is  charity  at  all  times  and  the  world  over,  Andrea 
clearly  sounds  the  note  of  his  age  when  he  adds  a  be- 
quest of  eight  hundred  lire  for  the  purchase  of  a  second 
farm  to  be  given  to  the  monks  on  the  condition  that  they 
daily  recite  a  mass  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.f  Let  one 
more  example  suffice  to  depict  both  the  gifts  and  the 
givers.  In  the  year  1287,  a  citizen  of  Massa,  after 
leaving  twelve  hundred  lire  to  San  Galgano,  adds  a  gift 
of  four  hundred  lire  "for  the  construction  of  an  altar 
in  the  said  church  in  honor  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary 
and  the  saints  James,  Christopher,  and  Nicholas,  near 
which  altar  let  my  name  be  written  in  patentibus  licteris 
(in  large  letters!),  in  order  that  all  the  priests  who  cele- 
brate mass  at  that  altar  may  be  reminded  to  pray  for  my 
soul  and  to  make  mention  of  my  name  in  the  service."! 
Although  a  charity,  associated  with  such  intense  spiritual 
profit-seeking,  may  kindle  an  amused  smile  upon  our  lips, 
it  furnishes  no  occasion  to  treat  it  with  contempt.  When 
all  is  said  the  fact  remains  that  the  habit  of  giving  of  one's 
substance  for  an  unselfish  end  was  widespread,  and  that 
it  testifies  to  the  success  with  which  the  church  infused 
the  spirit  of  idealism  into  a  dull  and  brutalized  society. 


*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  I." 

t  Canestrelli,  p.  72.     The  bequest  is  of  the  year  1274. 

t  Canestrelli,  p,  73. 


SAN  GALGANO  369 

We  have  seen  that  Bono  and  his  small  Cistercian 
band  made  their  home  near  the  grave  of  San  Galgano 
on  Monte  Siepi.  They  built  there  the  circular  chapel 
which  still  stands,  and  added  a.  dormitory  and  other 
quarters,  parts  of  which  survive  in  the  two  wings  leaning 
upon  the  chapel  like  awkward  buttresses.  Presently 
the  donations  of  which  we  have  taken  note  began  to 
pour  in,  and  the  brothers  saw  an  opportunity  for  en- 
larging the  circle  of  their  activity.  Dissatisfied  with 
their  narrow  and  primitive  quarters  on  Monte  Siepi, 
they  resolved  to  descend  from  their  wooded  spur  to  the 
broad  meadow  immediately  at  its  foot,  and  to  commence 
a  second  structure  on  a  scale  which  more  adequately 
represented  the  accumulated  means  and  golden  prospects 
of  the  monastery.  The  information  on  this  removal 
afforded  by  the  documents  is  unfortunately  slight,  but 
by  piecing  together  various  items  we  arrive  at  the  con- 
clusion that  the  new  edifices  were  begun  about  the  year 
1224,*  while  still  existing  walls  and  lines  of  masonry 
enable  us  to  affirm  that  they  included,  besides  the  great 
abbey  church,  a  dormitory,  a  cloister,  a  refectory,  barns, 
stables,  and  all  the  various  offices  of  a  corporation  which, 
if  primarily  a  religious  retreat,  had  also  something  of  the 
character  of  a  library,  a  school,  and  a  great  agricultural 
establishment.  By  accidents  and  changes,  to  which  I 
shall  return  in  due  time,  most  of  the  accessory  structures 
have  been  swept  away,  but  the  great  abbey  church  still 
stands,  desolate  and  in  ruins,  it  is  true,  but  touched 
with  such  enduring  beauty  that  it  may  be  called  without 
hesitation  one  of  the  most  exquisite  churches  of  Tuscany 
and  even  of  all  Italy.  Built  in  slow  stages,  as  suited  the 

*  Canestrelli,  pp.  69-75. 


370  SIENA 

gradually  accumulating  means  of  the  brothers,  it  was 
probably  not  finished  till  the  end  of  the  century  which 
saw  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone.  In  the  place  of 
ascertained  facts,  enabling  us  to  compose  a  secure  narra- 
tive of  the  construction  of  the  famous  church,  we  must 
content  ourselves  with  conjecture,  and  conjecture,  too, 
supplies  the  only  answer  to  our  eager  question  concern- 
ing the  names  of  the  great  artists  who  drew  the  plans 
for  it.  Without  doubt  they  were  Cistercian  monks, 
for  the  Cistercians,  apart  from  their  jealous  desire  to 
keep  their  buildings  in  their  own  hands,  were  recognized 
as  the  architectural  leaders  and  innovators  of  their  day. 
However,  when  we  appeal  to  the  documents  for  the 
names  of  the  individual  monks  who  distinguished 
themselves  in  this  great  enterprise,  we  are  denied  an 
answer,  and  must  content  ourselves  with  the  general 
conclusion  that  the  order  built  the  abbey  church  of  San 
Galgano.  Considering  the  nature  of  the  order,  and 
remembering  that  men  entered  it  to  lose  their  person- 
ality in  the  hope  of  finding  it  again  in  the  Lord,  we  can 
hardly  quarrel  with  the  accident  which  produced  a 
result  so  fully  in  accord  with  the  profound  spirit  of  the 
institution.* 

On  one  very  fascinating  matter,  included  in  the  dark 
chapter  of  construction  and  involving  the  much-mooted 
question  of  the  style  of  the  great  abbey  church,  it  is 
possible  to  speak  with  precision,  for  the  building  being 
still  in  existence,  at  least  as  regards  its  structural  lines, 
furnishes  all  the  material  necessary  for  an  intelligent 
opinion.  No  student  of  art  standing  before  these  re- 

*  Canestrelli,  pp.  77-78,  names  some  of  the  builders  (operai),  who  not 
improbably  figured  also  in  the  capacity  of  architects. 


SAN  GALGANO  371 

mains  will  fail  to  be  struck  by  the  fact  that  here  is  an 
edifice  of  such  pure  northern  Gothic  as  is  not  to  be 
found  again  in  all  Tuscany.  Indeed  these  lithe  and 
graceful  forms  would  not  be  held  to  be  out  of  place  if 
one  came  upon  them  suddenly  on  a  tour  through  north- 
ern France.  Were  the  architects,  whom  we  have  agreed 
to  be  Cistercians,  also  Frenchmen,  imported  when  the 
resolution  was  first  taken  to  begin  the  edifice  ?  The 
general  plan,  as  well  as  the  grouped  piers  and  the 
ribbed  vaults,  point  to  that  conclusion,  although  Canes- 
trelli,  patriotically  eager  to  vindicate  the  monument  for 
his  own  people,  affirms  with  some  show  of  proof  that 
Italian  architects  were  quite  capable  of  this  quality  of 
work.  That  Italian  influences  are  perceptible  here  and 
there  is  undeniable,  but  the  structural  skeleton  with  its 
harmonious  system  of  concentrated  strains  and  balanced 
thrusts  is  so  emphatically  French  that  we  are  forced  to 
conclude  that,  if  men  of  French  blood  did  not  build 
this  church,  the  Italian  monks,  entrusted  with  the 
work,  must  have  received  their  architectural  training 
in  France,  if  not  directly  by  residence  in  the  Burgundian 
houses  of  their  order,  at  least  indirectly  through  the 
agency  of  the  traditions  accumulated  in  the  earlier 
Cistercian  foundations  in  Italy,  such  as  Fossanova  and 
Casamari. 

During  the  thirteenth  century,  while  the  monks  were 
engaged  upon  the  reconstruction  of  the  abbey  on  a 
monumental  scale,  they  remained  a  vigorous  and  grow- 
ing organization.  It  is  an  old  observation  that  an  ideal, 
devotedly  pursued,  almost  magically  creates  the  energies 
necessary  for  its  fulfilment.  The  thirteenth  century, 
therefore,  constitutes  the  abbey's  heyday,  marked  not 


372  SIENA 

only  by  the  loud  and  steady  ring  of  hammer  and  chisel, 
which  came  across  the  meadow  of  the  Merse  and 
sounded  through  the  encircling  woods,  but  also  by  the 
quality  of  the  converts  attracted  by  the  cloistered  life. 
Nothing  is  more  erroneous  than  the  common  notion 
that  it  was  the  broken  and  unfit,  the  sad  company  of 
life's  derelict,  who  were  drawn  to  the  mediaeval  monas- 
teries. Undeniably  this  defeated  section  of  society 
might  be  found  in  large  numbers  in  a  given  institution 
in  the  period  of  decay,  but  in  the  flourishing  time, 
which  was,  of  course,  the  time  of  youth,  the  monastic 
programme,  universal  enough  to  reach  the  operative  as 
well  as  the  reflective  temperament,  laid  a  spell  upon  the 
best  minds  of  the  day.  Turn  as  one  may  there  is  no 
way  of  accounting  for  the  part  played  by  the  monasteries 
in  mediaeval  civilization,  save  on  the  ground  that  their 
ranks  constituted  a  representative  expression  of  the 
intelligence  and  energy  of  society.  San  Galgano  bears 
out  this  assertion  at  every  point.  We  have  already  seen 
that  when  the  monks  undertook  to  build  themselves  an 
abbey,  which  still,  though  in  ruins,  communicates  the 
most  delicate  spirit  of  beauty,  they  did  not  have  to  go 
for  help  outside  their  own  cowled  brotherhood.  By  the 
side  of  the  architects,  and  wearing  like  them  the  yoke 
of  monastic  obedience  were  to  be  found  trained  lawyers 
and  notaries.  With  its  varied  business  the  monastery 
could  turn  them  to  good  use  and  was  at  pains  to  as- 
semble for  their  behoof  a  considerable  law  library.* 
Physicians  and  surgeons,  who  in  their  youth  had  trudged 
on  foot  to  the  schools  of  Salerno  and  Montpellier,  paced 
the  quiet  garden  walks  with  ordained  priests,  expert  in 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  XVIII." 


SAN  GALGANO  373 


the  lore  of  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas  and  the  Schoolmen. 
With  such  elements  represented  in  the  remote  com- 
munity, we  can  hardly  go  wrong  in  assuming  that  its 
intellectual  level  rose  far  above  that  of  contemporary  lay 
society.  How  else  shall  we  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  neighboring  city  of  Siena  frequently  requested  the 
aid  of  the  monastery  in  purely  civic  affairs  ?  With  the 
commune's  growth  the  office  of  treasurer  acquired  an 
increasing  importance,  and  when  the  citizens  wanted  a 
thoroughly  capable  and  reliable  man  to  put  in  charge 
of  their  moneys,  whither  did  they  turn  but  to  the  abbot 
of  San  Galgano  ?  They  asked  for  the  loan  of  one  of  his 
monks,  for  the  first  time,  it  would  seem,  in  the  year 
1257,  and  were  so  satisfied  with  the  service  they  received 
that  they  kept  up  the  practice  for  almost  a  hundred 
years.*  Then  they  resorted  to  a  layman,  indicating  in 
plain  terms  that  it  was  not  until  the  democratic  govern- 
ment had  been  established  for  some  generations  that 
the  average  citizen  acquired  those  moral  and  mental 
qualities  which  put  him  on  a  level  with  the  monks. 
I  pointed  out  in  a  former  chapter  that  a  quaint  memorial 
of  these  comptroller-monks,  called  camarlinghi  di  Bic- 
cherna,  is  carefully  preserved  in  the  archives  of  Siena. 
On  certain  of  the  painted  covers  of  the  account  books 
which  they  kept  in  their  time  will  be  found  the  solemn 
countenance  of  a  cowled  brother,  who  thus  still  seems 
to  guard  from  his  grave  the  treasure  entrusted  to  his  care 
while  living.  Nor  was  the  treasurership  the  only  tribute 
which  Siena  paid  to  the  high  character  of  the  Galgano 
fraternity.  In  the  thirteenth  century  the  chief  public 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  XX,"  gives  a  list  of  the  camarlinghi  from  S. 
Galgano. 


374  SIENA 

enterprise  in  which  she  was  engaged  was  her  cathedral, 
for  great  buildings,  both  for  civil  and  ecclesiastical  uses, 
were  one  of  the  passions  of  the  age.  Encouraged  prob- 
ably by  the  splendid  success  with  which  the  monks  were 
raising  their  own  abbey,  the  municipality  entrusted  the 
erection  of  the  duomo  to  their  tried  and  skilful  hands. 
Through  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  Fra 
Vernaccio,  Fra  Melano,  Fra  Villa  and  other  brothers — 
empty,  featureless  names  furnished  by  the  stolid  records 
— were  at  the  head  of  the  works,  and  during  their  in- 
cumbency the  magnificent  pile  was,  in  all  essential 
respects,  given  the  form  which  still  meets  the  eye.* 

Such  services  rendered  by  San  Galgano  to  the  com- 
mune of  Siena  indicate  that  the  shuttle  was  flying  back 
and  forth,  weaving  a  mutually  profitable  intimacy  be- 
tween the  abbey  and  the  city.  In  view  of  the  general 
political  situation  of  Tuscany  in  the  thirteenth  century 
this  development  was  inevitable.  The  monks  were 
men  of  peace;  their  object  in  the  world,  the  works  of 
peace.  We  have  seen  that  in  settling  on  the  upper 
Merse  they  needed  and  had  sought  the  protection  of  the 
established  powers,  the  pope,  the  emperor,  and  the 
bishop  of  Volterra.  But  with  the  death,  in  the  year 
1250,  of  Frederick  II,  the  last  great  Hohenstaufen,  the 
empire,  long  threatened  with  decay,  was  definitely  re- 
duced to  impotence,  and  though  the  pope  tried  to  seize 
his  rival's  heritage,  he  failed,  in  Tuscany  at  least,  be- 
cause the  cities  of  that  province  were  resolute  to  appro- 
priate for  themselves  whatever  benefits  resulted  from 
the  decay  of  the  federal  power.  The  bishop  of  Volterra, 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  XXI,"  gives  the  full  list  of  monks  who  served  as 
operai. 


SAN  GALGANO  375 

indeed,  continued  to  play  the  part  of  a  local  sovereign, 
theoretically  of  considerable  sway,  but  his  glory  waned 
as  soon  as  he  ceased  to  draw  light  and  power  from  his 
feudal  master.  Thus  Siena  came  to  dominate  in  South- 
ern Tuscany  over  a  region  which  included  the  Merse 
valley  and  therewith  the  abbey  of  San  Galgano.  Abbey 
and  city  did  not  fail  to  see  the  mutual  advantage  of  a 
close  political  alliance.  Siena,  and  Siena  alone,  could 
in  the  changed  political  circumstances  of  Italy  offer  to 
the  abbey  an  adequate  guarantee  against  violence  and 
spoliation,  and  the  abbey  would  give  to  the  city  an 
increased  security  on  its  southern  frontier,  in  addition 
to  conferring  on  it  the  honor  which  in  a  religious  age 
attached  to  the  patronage  of  a  great  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment. 

Thus,  under  the  pressure  of  time  and  change,  San 
Galgano  replaced  the  patronage  of  its  earliest  protectors 
for  that  of  the  neighboring  commune,  That  great  treas- 
ury of  fact,  the  Constitution  of  1262,  upon  which  I  have 
so  often  levied,  proclaims  the  relation  in  terms  indica- 
tive of  the  large  confidence  of  the  young  commonwealth. 
On  entering  upon  his  office  the  potesta  of  Siena  was 
obliged  to  swear  that  he  would  diligently  watch  over  the 
monastery  of  San  Galgano  and  all  its  possessions,  and, 
continuing,  he  was  made  to  say  that  "  at  the  demand  of 
my  lord  abbot  I  shall  give  notice  by  messenger  and  letter 
to  the  lords  and  people  of  the  region,  near  which  the 
possessions  of  the  abbey  are  situated,  that  the  said  abbey 
and  its  goods  are  under  the  protection  of  the  commune 
of  Siena;  and  I  shall  extend  the  affectionate  request  to 
them  that  they  inflict  no  injury  upon  it  or  any  of  its 
goods,  seeing  that  we  of  Siena  are  held  to  aid  the  monks 


376  SIENA 

and  to  defend  them  from  wrong  as  if  they  were  our 
fellow-citizens."*  And  this  promise  of  protection  was 
anything  but  hollow.  The  lords  of  the  neighborhood, 
as  well  as  such  small  but  often  violent  communities  as 
Chiusdino  and  Grosseto,  wisely  kept  their  hands  off 
the  abbot's  possessions,  and  the  abbey  continued  to 
flourish  till  the  arrival  of  its  evil  day. 

The  thirteenth  century,  I  have  already  said,  was  the 
prosperous  period  of  the  Cistercian  order  in  Italy,  and, 
particularly,  of  its  offspring  near  the  grave  of  San 
Galgano.  Then  gradually  signs  of  decay  appeared. 
The  phenomenon  has  its  parallel  in  the  story  of  every 
spiritual  institution  evolved  by  the  children  of  men. 
The  monks  raised  by  wealth  above  the  necessity  of 
effort,  became  estranged  from  their  own  ideals  and  gave 
themselves  to  idleness  and  vice.  Just  as  the  Cistercians 
themselves  originated  in  a  protest  against  the  decay  of 
the  older  Benedictines,  so  a  passionate  revolt  was  certain 
to  direct  itself  against  Cistercian  self-satisfaction,  and  to 
gather  the  most  promising  and  candid  spirits  of  the  age 
in  new  affiliations.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  rise  of 
the  begging  friars.  The  noble  orders  founded  by  Saint 
Francis  and  Saint  Dominic  did  not  at  once  affect  San 
Galgano,  owing  to  the  great  and  merited  prestige  which 
it  enjoyed  in  its  immediate  neighborhood.  But  slowly, 
if  imperceptibly,  they  exercised  a  disturbing  influence 
on  what  we  may  call  the  recruiting  market  of  our  monas- 
tery, for,  in  entering  the  field  to  bid  against  the  older 
institutions,  they  appealed  with  irresistible  force 
to  all  the  more  strenuous  spirits  by  virtue  of  their 
youthfulness  and  fire.  Early  in  the  fourteenth  century, 

*  "II  Constitute  di  Siena  dell'  anno  di  1262,"  I,  103. 


SAN  GALGANO  377 

about  the  time  the  new  abbey  in  the  meadow  under 
Monte  Siepi  celebrated  its  first  centenary,  one  catches 
signs  suggesting  that  its  moral  tone  has  suffered.  For 
one  thing  Siena  ceased  to  look  to  it  for  architects  and 
camarlinghi.  That  may  have  been,  as  I  have  already 
hinted,  because  lay  society  had  at  last  advanced  to  the 
point  where  it  could  trust  itself  for  these  services,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  suspicion  cannot  be  dismissed 
that  the  services  could  no  longer  be  rendered.  In  any 
case  the  usefulness  of  the  institution  decreased,  and 
with  the  usefulness  the  efficiency  of  the  residents.  An 
ominous  silence  gathered  around  San  Galgano,  the 
silence  descending  upon  a  society  which  has  outlived 
its  time,  and  when  it  is  broken  by  confused  sounds  of 
war  and  panic,  drawing  our  attention  once  more  to 
the  upper  Merse,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  with 
disaster. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth  century  Italy  was 
visited  by  one  of  thTlriost~a^o1mlh^ble"sociaTpIagues 
with  which  the  much  tormented  peninsula  was  vexed 
during  the  long  agony  of  feudalism.  It  consisted  in  the 
so-called  Companies  of  Adventure.  Since  the  central 
authority,  still  nominally  represented  by  the  emperor 
across  the  Alps,  was  destroyed,  and  ambitious  local 
powers,  lords  and  cities,  quarrelled  fiercely  for  dominion, 
a  chaotic  condition  was  created, T  Tnafketf  "by  "atfhftst 
uninterrupted  petty  warfare  and  furnishing  lucrative 
employmentTTor  large  bands  of  "mercenary  soldiers. 
TheTeaders  ot  these  bands  were  not  slow  to  see  that  with" 
tfie"  decay  of  the  various  city  militias,  a  decay  which  was 
in  full  swing  by  the  middle  ot  the  fourteenth  century. 
they  really  held  Italian  society  at  their  mercy.  I  spoke 


378  SIENA 

in  another  place  *  of  this  cruel  phenomenon,  showing 
how  the  lawless  freebooters,  representing  the  dregs  of 
all  Europe,  ravaged  the  Sienese  country  Ground  the 
walls  and  squeezed  incalculable  sums  out  of  the  fright- 
ened  burghers.  Of  course  the  rich  abbey  lands  of  San 
TjaTgano~TeH  a  helpless  prey  to  the  adventurers,  who 
again  and  again  spread  over  them  in  insolent  ease,  not 
unlike  a  devastating  cloud  of  locusts.  The  chroniclers 
assure  us  that  the  worst  of  the  plunderers  of  the  beau- 
tiful Cistercian  settlement  was  the  Englishman,  Sir 
John  Hawkwood,  nothing  more  than  a  successful 
brigand  according  to  our  mild  standards,  but  rewarded 
with  royal  honors  in  an  age  when  he  and  his  like  com- 
manded the  most  powerful  armed  forces  of  society. 
Hawkwood,  employed  by  Florence  to  do  the  righting, 
for  which  the  burghers,  with  their  attention  concentrated 
on  trade  and  profits,  had  lost  the  taste,  was  cheered  as 
if  he  were  the  shepherd  David  by  the  Florentine  popu- 
lace, and  when  he  died  received  the  extraordinary  honor 
of  being  painted  on  horseback  over  the  inner  portal  of 
the  Florentine  cathedral.  There  he  still  rides  exalted 
over  the  worshippers,  clamorously  preaching  in  the  im- 
pressive silence  of  Christ's  temple  the  world-old  doctrine 
of  the  mailed  fist.  Hawkwood,  under  engagement  to 
Florence,  was  of  course  free  to  harry  the  territory  of 
Siena.  His  practice,  as  well  as  that  of  other  condottieri 
who  visited  the  Merse  valley,  was  to  establish  himself 
with  head-quarters  at  San  Galgano,  and  then  burn,  rob, 
and  devastate  within  a  radius  of  many  miles.f  The 
scenes  which  occurred  everywhere  in  the  Middle  Age 

*  Chapter  8. 

t  Muratori,  Vol.  XV,  "Cronica  Sanese,"  pp.  187,  189. 


SAN  GALGANO  379 

when  a  lawless  horde  burst  upon  a  defenceless  popula- 
tion, put  a  tax  upon  the  imagination  of  a  humanitarian 
age  like  ours.  Hawkwood's  first  visit  to  San  Galgano 
befell  in  the  year  1363,  and  many  visits  by  him  and 
others  of  his  kind  followed  in  the  succeeding  generation. 
When  the  pest  of  the  adventurous  companies  was  at  last 
eradicated  and  better  times  dawned,  the  monastery 
was  in  a  state  of  complete  disorganization.  In  1397 
the  then  abbot,  one  Lodovico  di  Tano,  was  constrained 
to  sell  a  piece  of  land  in  order  to  pay  a  papal  imposition. 
He  found  a  purchaser,  but  could  not  meet  the  legal  re- 
quirements for  perfecting  the  bargain,  because  the 
monks,  whose  consent  was  indispensable,  were  all  dis- 
persed. The  abbot  dwelt  alone  in  the  deserted  halls  of 
the  great  monastery.* 

With  the  return  of  tranquillity  in  the  fifteenth  century 
San  Galgano  experienced  a  revival.  Enough  monks 
returned  to  form  a  new  nucleus,  the  offices  were  chanted 
as  of  old,  and  the  damage  done  by  the  Companies  of 
Adventure  was  gradually  repaired.  But  the  former 
splendor  never  returned.  The  melancholy  story  of  the 
decline  to  the  point  of  abandonment  and  ruin  that  now 
meets  the  eye  is  written  legibly  enough  in  the  records, 
but  can  only  be  briefly  indicated  here.  Before  the  new 
and  vital  interests,  which  the  Renaissance,  now  mount- 
ing to  its  meridian,  popularized  throughout  Italy,  the 
monastic  idea  began  to  pale.  San  Galgano,  buried 
among  thick  woods  in  a  remote  valley,  did  not  bulk  so 
large  as  in  a  simpler  age.  Its  revenues  were  still  con- 
siderable, but  its  ranks  represented  a  descending  curve 
of  efficiency  and  were  no  longer  crowded  with  cheerful 

*  Canestrelli,  p.  21. 


380  SIENA 

and  self-sacrificing  volunteers.  The  abbey  worried 
along,  however,  as  vested  interests  will,  until  presently 
it  fell  a  victim  to  one  of  the  growing  diseases  of  the 
Roman  system,  the  canker  of  prelacy.  With  the  pas- 
sion for  a  princely  scale  of  living,  which  the  Renaissance 
fastened  upon  the  Roman  pontiffs,  went  the  need  of  a 
court,  of  gorgeous  palaces,  and  of  a  numerous  retinue 
of  sycophants  to  shine  as  minor  lights  around  the  central 
sun.  To  meet  the  multifarious  demands  upon  their 
budget  the  popes  were  driven  to  tap  such  questionable 
sources  of  income  as  the  sale  of  indulgences,  while 
to  satisfy  the  covetous  and  luxurious  prelates  they  were 
constrained  to  assign  to  them  the  revenues  of  fat 
bishoprics  and  abbacies.  Every  one  will  remember  how 
powerfully  this  reckless  exploitation  contributed  to  the 
reform  movement  which  swept  over  northern  Europe  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  San  Galgano,  a  rich  benefice 
close  at  hand,  was  not  likely  to  escape  the  general  fate. 
In  the  year  1503  Pope  Julius  II,  one  of  the  most  im- 
posing personalities  of  the  whole  line  of  popes,  but,  as 
ill-luck  would  have  it,  always  desperately  in  need  of 
cash,  gave  the  abbey  in  commendam  to  one  of  his  cardi- 
nals. On  the  surface  the  transaction  signified  no  more 
than  that  the  abbey  was  "commended"  to  the  cardinal's 
paternal  care;  in  reality  it  appropriated  the  entire 
revenue  to  his  personal  use.  The  keeping  up  of  the 
abbey  depended  henceforth  on  the  distant  commenda- 
tary's  charity,  supplemented  by  the  begging  talents 
of  the  monks.  Some  monks  of  an  adventurous  tem- 
per might  still  be  inclined  to  take  their  chances 
with  the  institution  under  the  nefarious  absentee  sys- 
tem, but  they  had  no  legal  claim  to  anything.  Their 


SAN  GALGANO  381 

money  flowed  to  Rome,  and  once  at  Rome  was  past 
reclaiming. 

There  is  no  reason  for  following  closely  the  miserable 
tale  of  decay  under  the  successive  commendataries, 
though  the  story  is  not  without  its  element  of  pathos. 
In  the  year  1576  a  papal  inspector,  sent  on  a  tour  through 
Tuscany,  found  a  single  monk  acting  as  caretaker  of 
the  vast  establishment,  reflecting  in  his  rags  the  crying 
destitution  of  the  monastery.*  The  inspector  reported 
to  Rome  that  the  refectory  was  without  a  roof,  that  many 
chapels  were  in  decay,  that  of  the  four  bells  three  could 
not  be  rung,  and  that  through  the  broken  windows  the 
birds  entered  and  made  their  nests  in  the  church.  In 
the  year  1632  the  pope,  himself  scandalized  at  the  results 
of  a  prolonged  exploitation  but  incapable  of  devising 
an  effective  policy  of  reform,  reduced  the  dishonored 
monastery  from  its  dignity  of  abbey,  and,  twenty  years 
after,  secularized  it  by  organizing  it  as  a  simple  benefice. 
The  benefice,  however,  embracing  the  many  estates 
which  San  Galgano  had  accumulated  through  the  ages, 
produced  an  undiminished  revenue,  and  this  revenue 
continued  to  flow  into  the  hands  of  a  commendatary, 
who,  in  return  for  an  unmerited  bounty,  assumed  the 
meagre  obligation  of  maintaining  Christian  worship  in  the 
abbey  church  and  of  making  a  few  repairs  at  his  discre- 
tion. The  Cistercian  order  now  definitely  left  the  place 
which  was  associated  with  a  not  inglorious  chapter  of 
its  past.  The  commendatary,  looking  for  cheap  labor, 
sent  first  some  Vallombrosans,  and  later,  occasional 
Franciscans  to  act  as  custodians  of  the  edifice,  but  these 
uninterested  guardians,  drawing  an  infinitesimal  wage, 

*  Canestrelli,  "Documento  XXVIII." 


382  SIENA 

were  glad  if  they  could  eke  out  a  living  without  giving  a 
thought  to  the  maintenance  of  the  splendid  monument, 
in  whose  ample  enclosure  they  must  have  rattled  around 
like  peas  in  a  bushel. 

And  so  we  arrive  through  the  long  and  painful  stages 
of  neglect  at  the  last  phase,  the  chapter  of  total  abandon- 
ment. On  the  22nd  of  January,  1786,  a  congregation 
of  perhaps  fifty  peasants  was  gathered  in  the  sacristy 
before  the  only  altar  which  seems  to  have  been  kept  in 
sufficient  repair  for  the  celebration  of  the  mass.  The 
rest  of  the  edifice,  we  are  informed,  had  become  fright- 
fully damp  and  unwholesome,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
whenever  it  rained  the  water  poured  through  the  roof 
like  a  sieve.  Suddenly  on  that  January  day,  "all'  atto 
della  consecrazione,"*  at  the  moment  when  the  Fran- 
ciscan caretaker  and  priest  consecrated  the  bread, 
there  came  a  tremendous  roar,  followed  by  a  shock 
which  threw  the  terrified  worshippers  upon  their  knees. 
The  bell  tower,  which  rose  just  behind  the  sacristy  and, 
as  was  usual  in  Italy,  stood  free  of  the  church,  had  given 
way  and  crashed  to  the  ground.  It  must  have  seemed 
to  the  witnesses  like  a  divine  intervention  that,  instead 
of  burying  them  under  its  ruins  in  the  sacristy,  it  had 
measured  its  length  upon  the  open  field  behind  the 
choir.  After  this  catastrophe  neither  peasants  nor 
caretaker  would  trust  themselves  in  the  dilapidated 
edifice.  They  got  leave  to  transfer  the  worship,  main- 
tained in  the  crumbling  abbey  for  the  convenience  of  the 
scattered  peasants  of  the  neighborhood,  to  Monte 
Siepi;  and  the  venerable  though  neglected  round  chapel 
which  marked  the  grave  of  San  Galgano  and  had  served 

*  Canestrelli,  p.  61. 


SAN  GALGANO  383 

as  the  original  settlement  of  the  Cistercians,  was  once 
more  supplied  with  an  altar  and  rang  with  the  solemn 
music  of  the  liturgy.  To  this  day,  on  Sundays  and  other 
Christian  festivals,  it  is  visited  by  a  thin  congregation  of 
silent,  stoical-looking  peasants,  attended  by  their  wives 
and  children.  With  the  withdrawal  of  the  priest  and 
his  flock  a  formal  deconsecration  was  required  by  the 
regulations  of  the  Catholic  church,  in  sign  that  the  great 
abbey  was  left  to  perish  in  peace.  The  Bishop  of  Vol- 
terra,  in  whose  diocese  the  abbey  lay,  in  due  time 
published  the  necessary  decree,  and  on  August  10,  1789, 
the  pertinent  ceremony  was  gone  through  with  by  two 
commissioners,  accompanied  by  a  notary  to  make  the 
necessary  legal  attestation.  It  is  interesting  to  observe 
that  just  six  days  before,  some  hundreds  of  miles  away 
across  the  snow-capped  barrier  of  the  Alps,  a  body  of 
Frenchmen,  calling  themselves  the  National  Assembly, 
had  swept  the  remnants  of  feudalism  out  of  existence 
and  inaugurated  for  Europe  a  new  age,  founded  upon 
the  bold  belief,  no  less  than  blasphemous  to  the  medi- 
aeval mind,  of  the  ability  of  reason  to  effect  the  salvation 
of  the  human  race.  The  chronological  coincidence, 
linking  the  far-sounding  pronouncement  made  on  the 
Parisian  stage  with  the  abandonment  unwept,  unsung, 
of  a  monument  which  had  its  root  in  the  warm  heart  of 
the  Middle  Age,  touches  the  imagination.  Sunt  lachry- 
m(e  rerum. 

Neglected  since  the  days  of  the  Renaissance  by  greedy 
and  conscienceless  commendataries,  the  doomed  abbey 
was  from  the  moment  of  deconsecration  left  unguarded 
and  untenanted,  a  prey  to  the  conquering  elements. 
Not  long  before  the  tower  came  down  in  the  manner 


384  SIENA 

we  have  seen,  a  cardinal  commend atary,  Feroni  by 
name,  had  managed  to  persuade  the  pope  to  transfer  the 
whole  property  of  San  Galgano  as  a  private  estate  to  his 
family,  with  the  sole  obligation  of  contributing  to  the 
maintenance  of  religious  worship  in  the  abbey.  When 
the  tower  fell,  the  family,  in  return  for  fitting  up  the 
chapel  on  Monte  Siepi,  got  the  maintenance  clause 
abolished.  The  disavowal  of  the  edifice  was  now  com- 
plete; as  far  as  the  law  was  concerned,  the  owners  were 
free  to  look  upon  the  ancient  monument  as  a  useless 
encumbrance  amidst  their  pleasant  fields  and  meadows, 
and  nothing  hindered  them  from  destroying  it  at  pleas- 
ure. While  balking  at  this  extreme  step,  they  freely  re- 
sorted to  it  as  a  quarry,  and  the  peasants,  following  the 
example  of  their  enlightened  masters,  plundered  it  at 
will  for  such  building  material  as  their  need  required. 
Whenever  a  vault  fell  in,  bullock  carts  rolled  lumberingly 
to  the  scene  to  appropriate  the  fine  blocks  of  travertine 
which  littered  the  ground,  and  a  heap  of  indistinguish- 
able rubbish  might  be  the  only  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  the  abbey  at  this  day,  if  the  Italian  government, 
sluggishly  responding  to  the  indignant  appeal  of  a 
devoted  lover  of  his  country's  history  and  art,  had  not, 
in  the  year  1894,  stayed  further  demolition  by  declaring 
the  ruin  a  national  monument  and  by  making  meagre 
provision  for  its  preservation. 

Hardly  a  building,  testifying  to  the  character  and 
splendor  of  the  Italian  past,  is  more  worthy  of  a  visit 
than  the  ruined  abbey  of  San  Galgano.  Unvisited  by 
the  casual  tourist  by  reason  of  its  remoteness  from  the 
common  highways  of  travel,  utterly  untouched  by  the 
many  vulgar  influences  of  modern  life,  it  has  gathered 


O 


ei 
X 


SAN  GALGANO  385 

about  itself  the  atmosphere  of  silence  which  settles  upon 
all  noble  works.  On  an  afternoon  in  June,  abandoning 
the  hot  and  dusty  highway  which  I  had  followed  for 
some  hours,  I  mounted  a  grassy  bank,  and  across  a 
sun-lit  meadow  saw  it  lying,  white  and  glittering  like 
the  gates  of  pearl.  Around  the  level  field,  from  whose 
thick  clover  came  the  riotous  song  of  summer  mounting 
to  its  acme,  stood  the  wooded  hills,  grave  and  watchful. 
To  the  west,  its  defiant  outline  almost  obliterated  by  the 
strong  light,  rose  the  clifF  of  Chiusdino.  Fronting  the 
lofty  citadel  and  close  at  hand,  lay  gently-sloping  Monte 
Siepi  with  the  purple  roof  of  the  old  round  chapel  just 
visible  above  the  tree-tops.  Here  at  last  in  the  silence 
of  the  white  summer  afternoon,  broken  only  by  the 
voices  in  the  grass  and  the  faint,  clear  call  of  the  cuckoo, 
the  long  story  of  the  monastery  became  perfectly  intel- 
ligible by  being  lifted  out  of  the  conditions  of  material 
fact  into  the  realm  of  beauty.  To  the  wakeful  inner 
vision  will  always  come  a  moment  when  things,  born 
in  time,  assume  the  aspect  of  eternity.  From  that 
westward  rock,  its  sharp  lines  dissolving  in  the  sun,  had 
the  knight  Galgano  ridden  forth  upon  his  quest  of  God, 
his  golden  hair,  of  which  the  legend  tells,  waving  in  the 
wind;  in  these  peaceful  hills  had  he  wandered,  carrying 
his  heart  in  his  hands  like  a  sacrifice;  and  here,  on 
brooding  Monte  Siepi,  earth  had  gathered  the  ex- 
hausted body  like  a  leaf  of  the  dead  year.  Presently 
over  the  grave  had  risen  the  round  chapel  of  the  Cister- 
cian brotherhood,  and,  in  the  due  course  of  time,  built 
of  the  prayers  of  men,  the  abbey  yonder,  lifting  a  pure 
front  above  the  meadow.  Even  so.  The  crickets  re- 
hearse the  tale  to  the  cicadas  shrilling  in  the  hedges,  the 


386  SIENA 

thrush  and  cuckoo  inform  the  hills,  which,  when  evening 
falls,  will  hold  silent  conference  with  the  marching 
stars. 

Just  before  sunset  I  entered  the  portal  and  stood  in 
the  deserted  nave.  The  vaults  had  fallen  in,  disclosing 
the  blue  sky  covered  with  a  web  of  delicate  rose  vapor. 
A  few  blocks  of  weathered  travertine,  which  had  lately 
given  way,  littered  the  grassy  floor.  At  the  entrance  to 
the  transept  a  brilliant  patch  of  yellow  marked  a  bed 
of  buttercups,  graciously  planted  by  some  wandering 
wind.  At  either  hand  the  eye  followed  the  rows  of 
piers  till  it  rested  upon  the  marred  choir  wall  with  its 
ghostly  apertures.  Finer  clustered  columns  one  may 
not  hope  to  find,  each  one  composed  of  perfectly  articu- 
lated members,  simple,  serviceable,  and  beautiful. 
Equally  simple,  with  an  added  grace  of  subtle  rhythm, 
are  the  triforium  and  clerestory.  If  this  was  Italian 
workmanship  it  was  at  least  directed  by  the  delicate 
Gothic  spirit  which  emanated  from  the  Isle  de  France. 
In  the  days  when  the  ribbed  vault  terminated  the  nave 
and  aisles,  the  church  must  have  produced  an  effect  as 
rounded  and  complete  as  a  sonata  by  some  great 
master.  But  if  completeness  has  been  lost,  its  absence 
is  not  noticed  by  reason  of  a  quality  much  more  moving 
to  us  in  our  character  of  men,  a  quality  which  Words- 
worth has  called  "the  unimaginable  touch  of  time." 
Daily  as  the  light  fails  from  the  sky  and  dusk  gathers 
within  the  spacious  enclosure,  time,  and  its  kindred 
spirit,  beauty,  circle  like  great  birds  above  the  deserted 
home  of  men. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA 

WE  are  nearing  the  end  of  our  journey.  The 
mediaeval  commune,  the  history  of  which  I 
set  out  to  trace,  perished  with  the  spread  of 
the  new  civilization  bearing  the  name  of  the  Renais- 
sance. In  a  formal  sense,  indeed,  the  republic  of  Siena 
lived  far  into  the  new  period,  but  it  led  a  maimed 
existence,  at  the  mercy  of  circumstances,  and  without 
that  splendid  vigor  which  distinguished  it  in  those 
strictly  mediaeval  centuries,  called  by  the  Italians  the 
dugento  and  trecento.  It  was  precisely  because  the 
town  in  its  creative  period  exhibited  an  irrepressible 
activity  and  developed  an  attractive  and  original 
civilization  that  we  of  another  age  are  content  to  follow 
its  fortunes  and  to  linger  over  its  works.  For  the  same 
reason  the  Age  of  the  Renaissance,  a  period  of  unar- 
rested  decline,  has  but  a  weak  claim  upon  our  interest. 
Still,  whoever  has  followed  with  sympathy  the  rise  and 
culmination  of  this  original  and  perplexing  people  will 
not  rest  until  he  has  given  himself  the  melancholy 
satisfaction  of  viewing  also  the  end. 

We  dropped  the  thread  of  Sienese  political  develop- 
ment at  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  the 
town  stood  face  to  face  with  a  score  of  difficulties  which 
seemed  on  the  point  of  overwhelming  and  destroying  it. 

387 


388  SIENA 

We  noted  the  domestic  turmoil  of  the  monti,  the  in- 
dustrial and  financial  depression,  the  prowling  Com- 
panies of  Adventure,  the  rebellious  nobility — surely  a 
formidable  array  of  evils.  But  these  troubles  were  not 
all,  for  at  the  moment  of  this  domestic  crisis  the  whole 
Italian  peninsula  was  swept  by  a  political  revolution,  the 
effects  of  which  Siena,  remote  and  provincial  though 
she  was,  could  not  hope  to  escape. 

In  thejxmrse  of  the  fourteenth  century  a  movement 
of  concentration  had  affirmedTtself^lyyTeason  of  which 
the  numerous  republics  and  lordships  of  the  peninsula 
kegan  to  disappear  in  order  to  make  room  for  more 

ample  and  powerful  political  aggregations. Five  states_ 

had  pushed  their  way  to  the  front — Venice  and  Milan 
injthe  north,  Florence  between  the  Apennines  and  the 
sea,  the  States  of  the  Church  embracing  the  central 
Apennines,  and  Naples  to  the  south.  Milan  was  held 
by  theJVisconti,  who  had  raised  their  tyrannical  regime 
on  the  rums  of  the  democratic  commune;  Venice  wa§jm 
oligarchy  of  rich  merchants;  Naples  was  a  feudal  king- 
dom;— inTact  each  of  the  rive  states  had  a  political  organ- 
izajion  peculiar  to  itself  Widely  differing  in  constitu- 
tional forms,  they  resembled  one  another,  however,  in 
that  they  all  alike  strove  ceaselessly,  by  means  fair  or 
foul,  to  enlarge  their  boundaries  by  absorbing  their 
weaker  neighbors.  Out  of  this  general  greed  grew  ever 
fresh  wars  which,  by  the  side  of  the  radiant  and  cloud- 
capped  Italy  of  the  Renaissance  evoked  by  the  human- 
ists and  artists,  set  a  material  Italy  which  was  a  very 
lazar-house  of  sorrow  and  disease. 

In  these  Italian  wars  Siena  had  no  other  interest  than 
that  of  self-preservation.  She  was  perpetually  between 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  389 

hammer  and  anvil  and  obliged  to  take  desperate  chances 
to  escape  from  each  new  predicament.  Florence  was  as 
always  the  chief  source  of  alarm.  In  the  face  of  this  situa- 
tion the  natural  policy  of  the  smaller  city  was  to  secure 
itself  against  subjection  to  the  Arno  town  by  avoiding 
scrupulously  to  give  offence,  and  Florence  for  her  part 
was  magnanimously  content  to  be  friendly,  pending  the 
arrival  of  the  favorable  moment  when  she  could  safely 
show  her  fangs  and  seize  her  prey.  Patriotic  historians 
of  Siena  speak  indignantly  of  the  Florentine  policy  of 
this  period,  charging  it,  as  in  the  past,  with  faithlessness 
and  violence.  These  offensive  traits,  indeed,  undeniably 
characterize  the  conduct  of  the  Arno  merchants,  but 
beneath  such  baser  qualities,  it  is  only  fair  to  Florence 
to  insist,  stirred  an  entirely  healthy  desire  of  expansion, 
fed  by  the  dim  but  unerring  perception  that  a  more 
effective  organization  of  Italy  was  inevitable  in  an  age 
which  was  pushing  its  galleys  into  unknown  seas  beyond 
the  Mediterranean,  and  girding  its  loins  for  the  conquest 
of  new  continents. 

A  single  glance  at  the  geographical  position  of  Flor- 
ence will  convince  us  that  her  most  immediate  ambition 
was  the  control  of  the  Arno  valley.  It  was  therefore  a 
signal  satisfaction  to  the  republic  when  in  the  year  1384 
she  raised  her  banner  over  Arezzo.  This  success, 
carrying  Florentine  influence  far  inland,  must  have 
encouraged  the  government  to  think  that  the  time  had 
come  for  a  renewed  grappling  with  Siena.  Ever  since 
the  Montaperti  period,  when  Siena  had  become  Guelph, 
that  is,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  the  relations  of 
the  two  neighbors  had  been  fairly  satisfactory,  but  now 
plainly  Florence  felt  strong  enough  to  resume  offensive 


390  SIENA 

operations.  In  pursuit  of  this  policy  she  conducted  a  secret 
intrigue  with  the  Sienese  dependency  of  Montepulciano 
till  that  town  revolted  and  put  itself  under  her  protection. 
This  breach  of  a  long  established  amity  occurred  in 
the  year  1387.  The  Sienese  sent  an  embassy  to  Flor- 
ence to  lodge  a  complaint;  pursued  patient  negotiations, 
marked,  on  the  part  of  the  Arno  city,  by  deceit  and 
subterfuge;  and  presently,  in  alarm  lest  worse  follow, 
sought  the  alliance  of  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti,  lord  of 
Milan.  Gian  Galeazzo  is  a  highly  remarkable  example 
of  that  new  order  of  political  being,  the  tyrant,  brought 
forth  by  the  wild  confusion  of  the  peninsula.  Too 
much  has  been  written  about  the  personal  aspect  of  the 
tyrant,  about  his  ambition,  his  violence,  his  disregard 
of  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  and  too  little  about  the 
political  purposes  which  he  served.  Gian  Galeazzo 
had  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  necessity  of  uniting 
Italy  than  any  statesman  the  peninsula  produced 
down  to  the  time  of  Macchiavelli.  An  illuminating 
glimpse  of  his  policy  is  afforded  by  a  declaration  which 
he  once  launched  to  the  effect  "that  Tuscany  and 
Lombardy  must  become  one  and  inseparable."*  What 
a  statesmanlike  vision  that  simple  utterance  proves  him 
to  have  possessed,  but  what  a  storm  of  protest  it  was 
sure  to  raise  in  an  age  of  small  and  infinitesimal  corpora- 
tions, profoundly  persuaded  that  they  existed  by  reason 
of  a  divine  mandate! 

By  the  force  of  genius  Gian  Galeazzo  had  already 
imposed  his  authority  on  the  valley  of  the  Po,  when  he 
received  the  proffer  of  an  alliance  from  the  Sienese 

*  "  Quod  Tuscia  cum  Lumbardia  fiet  unum  et  idem."     Quoted  by  Profes- 
sione  "Siena  e  le  Compagnie  di  Ventura,"  p.  160. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  391 

which  would  secure  him  a  welcome  foothold  in  Tuscany. 
The  treaty  was  signed  in  the  year  1389  and  was  to  last 
ten  years.  Even  before  its  arrangements  were  perfected 
war  with  Florence  over  Montepulciano  had  broken  out, 
the  usual  ferocious  war  waged  with  mercenaries,  and 
marked  by  the  harrying  of  the  open  country,  by  plunder 
and  arson.  If  Siena,  soon  reduced  to  pitiful  straits,  at 
least  preserved  her  independence,  she  owed  that  boon 
to  the  political  support  of  the  Milanese  duke.  Occa- 
sional efforts  to  bring  about  peace  proved  vain.  Not 
only  did  Florence  refuse  to  give  up  Montepulciano,  but 
her  stubborn  rancor  even  made  the  Sienese  tremble  for 
the  safety  of  their  own  city.  Rather  than  fall  into  the 
hands  of  their  archenemies,  in  the  year  1399,  at  the 
expiration  of  the  ten  years'  treaty,  they  offered  the  sov- 
ereignty of  their  city  to  Gian  Galeazzo.  The  step  won 
them  a  respite,  and  the  Milanese  duke,  by  scrupulously 
avoiding  interference  in  local  affairs,  proved  that  his 
supremacy  was  perfectly  consistent  with  the  essentials 
of  self-government.*  Victory  after  victory  had  carried 
the  duke  by  this  time  far  toward  the  realization  of  his 
plans.  The  year  before  the  acquisition  of  Siena,  he  had 
raised  his  banner,  bearing  the  famous  writhing  viper 
of  the  Visconti,  over  Pisa.  Perugia,  Assisi,  and  proud 
Bologna  were  presently  added  to  his  dominions.  It  was 
whispered  that  he  was  on  the  point  of  making  a  frank 
avowal  of  his  hopes  by  crowning  himself  king  of  Italy, 
when  he  was  taken  with  fever  and  died  (1402).  Im- 
mediately his  dominions  melted  away,  and  Siena,  find- 


*  See  the  admirable  regulations  by  which  he  circumscribed  the  powers  of 
his  personal  representative  in  the  city.  Malavolti,  "Storia  di  Siena,"  terza 
parte,  p.  189. 


392  SIENA 

ing  no  security  in  a  continued  submission  to  a  weak 
successor,  reasserted  her  independence  (1404).  The 
Visconti  episode  was  closed,  but  it  brought  into  clear 
relief  two  things:  first,  that  Siena  had  little  good  to 
expect  from  Florence,  and,  second,  that  she  could  meet 
a  persistent  onslaught  from  the  Arno  city  only  with  the 
aid  of  a  protector. 

I  do  not  plan  to  follow  the  fortunes  of  Siena  in  tfoe 
new  centurywith  any  detail.  Although  the  disturb- 
ances oif  Italy  continued,  the  agitated  peninsula  being 
unable  to  find  peace  in  her  system  of  small  states^  Siena 
for  a  long  time_enjgyed  a  relative  quiet,  as  Florence^ 
temporarily  turned  her  er|prgy  in  ntVi^r  Directions.  In 
the  year  1406  she  acquired  Pisa,  and  therewith  free 
access  to  the  open  sea;  and  in  1430  she  tried  to  throw 
herjQgt  about  LuccaT This  rapid  development  alarmed 
Siena,  and  in  the  latter  case  led  to  her  taking  up  arms 
in  behalf  of  the  threatened  city  on  the  Serchio,  but 
apart  from  flurries  of  this  nature,  no  notable  event,  de- 
fining the  relation  of  Siena  to  her  neighbors,  took  place 
until  we  reach  the  pontificate  of  Pius  II,  inaugurated 
in  the  year  1458.  Pius  II,  whose  family  name  was 
./Eneas  Silvius  Piccolomini,  was  an  offspring  of  one  of 
the  oldest  houses  of  Siena,  and  was  a  famous  scholar  and 
traveller.  As  he  was  attached  with  passionate  intensity 
to  his  home,  Siena  during  his  rule  (1458-1464)  was  as 
effectually  under  the  protection  of  the  papacy  as  she 
had  once  been  under  that  of  Milan.  Accordingly, 
neither  Florence  nor  any  other  power  threatened  her 
territory,  which  happy  circumstance  Pius,  during  fre- 
quent prolonged  stays  in  Siena,  tried  with  noble  inspira- 
tion to  turn  to  account  by  effecting  a  permanent  cure 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  393 

of  the  secular  divisions  of  his  fellow-townsmen.  The 
local  situation,  therefore,  as  it  presented  itself  to  the 
eyes  of  Pius,  and  as  it  developed  under  his  personal 
pressure,  invites  our  attention. 

The  system  of  the  monti,  hereditary  parties  which 
struggled  for  the  possession  of  the  power  and  honors, 
was  a  device  apparently  invented  for  the  express  pur- 
pose  ofperpetuatmg  domestic  disorder?  We  are  already 
aware  that  to  this  political  system  was  largely  attribu- 
table  the  steady  decline  of  the  town.  We  have  followed 


the  story  of  the  monti  tcrthe  revolution  of  1385  when  the 
RiformatorTwere  overthrown  and  the  monte  del  Popolo, 
the^fifth  and  the  last  of  these  cantankerous  castes,  came 
into  beingjl  The  victory  of  that  year  gave  the  sovereign- 
ty to  the  Noveschi,  the  Dodicini,  and  the  Popolari  (as 
the  members  of  the  monte  del  Popolo  were  called),  the 
now  time-honored  exclusion  of  the  nobles  or  Gentilu- 
omini  from  the  signiory  being,  of  course,  maintained. 
Presently,  in  a  most  unusual  access  of  magnanimity,  a 
concession*  was  made  to  the  Riformatori  with  the  result 
that  the  four  peoples'  parties  seemed  to  have  been 
reduced  to  an  apparent  harmony.  But  the  old  rancor 
glowed  beneath  the  ashes.  In  1403  the  Dodicini, 
whom  we  know  from  of  old  as  tireless  sowers  of  dissen- 
sion, entered  into  a  conspiracy  with  some  of  the  nobles 
to  overthrow  the  government,  and  on  being  discovered 
were  ammoniti  in  perpetuo — excluded  forever  from  the 
signiory.  The  government  thus  devolved  on  the  three 
monti  of  the  Noveschi,  the  Riformatori,  and  the  Popo- 
lari, and  remained  with  them  without  any  substantial 
change  till  the  time  of  Pius  II,  that  is,  for  half  a  century. 

*  In  1387  and  again  in  1398. 


394  SIENA 

This  long  period  of  inner  quiet  was  made  possible 
by  an  unusual  understanding  among  the  three  ruling 
groups,  aided  by  their  sharp  repression  of  every  hostile 
demonstration  on  the  part  of  the  excluded  orders  of  the 
Gentiluomini  and  the  Dodicini.  To  keep  these  domes- 
tic enemies  in  the  proper  degree  of  submission  their 
leaders  were  from  time  to  time,  without  even  the  sem- 
blance of  legal  procedure,  packed  out  of  the  town  and 
banished.  San  Bernardino  (1380-1444),  saint  and 
orator,  who  acquired  an  added  authority  among  his 
countrymen  from  being  a  Sienese  born  and  bred,  pleaded 
in  public  addresses,  attended  by  vast  crowds  of  male 
and  female  auditors,  for  a  civil  peace  founded  on 
justice  for  all,  but  his  eloquence  entered  the  ears  and 
did  not  penetrate  the  hearts.*  The  city  fathers  were 
satisfied  that  they  had  done  their  whole  duty  when  they 
yielded  so  far  to  the  saint's  persuasions  as  to  fix  the 
monogram  of  Christ,  surrounded,  in  sign  of  universal 
love,  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  to  the  front  of  the  palazzo. 
Upon  this  monogram,  San  Bernardino,  so  to  speak, 
founded  his  ministry.  Carrying  it  with  him  whenever 
he  mounted  the  pulpit,  he  urged  upon  his  hearers  that 
they  adopt  it  in  place  of  the  worldly  devices  and  coats- 
of-arms  which  their  provocative  zeal  led  them  to  attach 
to  the  house-fronts.  Like  the  magistracy,  the  citizens 
generally,  as  Sienese  walls  still  testify,  complied  with 
the  saint's  demand.  Professions  but  no  deeds,  lip- 
worship  but  no  conversion!  Long  habit  inclined  the 
citizens  to  turn  periodically  to  the  excitement  of  street 

*  The  addresses,  gratefully  free  from  the  bombast  of  the  humanists  and 
delivered  in  the  honest  dialect  of  shop  and  market,  afford  admirable  glimpses 
of  the  time.  The  series  delivered  in  1427  has  been  luckily  preserved  for  us. 
Banchi,  "Le  Prediche  Volgari  di  S.  Bernardino." 


San  Bernardino  Preaching  in  the  Campo 
By  Sano  di  Pietro  (in  the  Sala  del  Capitolo  of  the  Cathedral) 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  395 

brawls  as  drunkards  do  to  the  bottle.  How  else  are  we 
to  interpret  the  remarkable  notice  reported  by  the 
historian  Malavolti  for  the  year  1439  -?  The  young  men 
of  the  town,  we  hear,  made  restless  by  the  otto  continue, 
the  long  years  of  domestic  peace,  formed  themselves  into 
two  bands  under  the  names  of  Chiassa  and  Graffio 
(Noise  and  Scratch!),  and  engaged  in  street-fighting 
which  would  have  set  the  town  topsy-turvy  if  the  govern- 
ment had  not  ended  the  mischief  with  rigorous  penalties. 
As  Chiassa  and  Graffio  had  nothing  to  do  with  politics, 
nor  stood  even  remotely  for  any  programme  of  govern- 
mental action,  we  may  accept  them  as  the  naive  ex- 
pression of  an  inborn  and  ineradicable  contentiousness. 
I  have  tried  to  be  just  to  the  great  and  impersonal 
forces  which  determined  the  course  of  Sienese  history, 
but  let  us  not  forget  that  the  national  temper  counts  for 
something,  nay,  counts  for  much  in  the  general  result. 
Whoever  wants  further  proof  need  but  give  attention 
to  the  reception  extended  by  the  Sienese  to  the  reform 
plans  of  Pope  Pius  II. 

The  family  of  Pius,  the  Piccolomini,  belonged  to  the 
grandi,  who,  at  the  time  of  Pius's  accession  to  the  chair 
of  Saint  Peter,  had  been  excluded  from  the  signiory 
for  almost  two  hundred  years.  To  curry  favor  with 
the  new  pope,  the  male  members  of  his  family  re- 
siding in  Siena  were  made  eligible  to  all  honors  as 
soon  as  the  news  of  Pius's  election  was  reported  at  home. 
The  pope  was  a  man  of  too  elevated  a  character  to  be 
caught  with  such  small  bait.  He  asked  for  the  re- 
habilitation of  all  the  nobles,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
come  in  person  to  Siena  to  plead  with  the  magistrates 
to  bury  the  past  and  inaugurate  an  era  of  concord. 


396  SIENA 

Tardily,  and  with  every  sign  of  discontent,  the  govern- 
ment yielded;  but  when  Pius  now  demanded  the  same 
favor  for  the  Dodicini,  in  order  that  the  whole  citizen 
body  might  be  at  last  embraced  in  a  single  union  of 
hearts,  he  met  with  obdurate  resistance.  It  was  the 
last  and  the  best  chance  the  Sienese  ever  had  of  putting 
their  government  on  a  foundation  of  true  democratic 
justice.  Their  rejection  of  Pius's  proposals,  made  with 
the  love  of  a  citizen  and  the  authority  of  a  pontiff,  showed 
an  attachment  to  their  hereditary  rancors  which  had 
become  an  element  of  the  blood.  They  were  en- 
amored of  their  differences  and  did  not  want  to  be 
cured  of  them !  Pius  was  no  sooner  cold  in  his  grave 
than,  with  a  meanness  which  is  as  ludicrous  as  it  is 
melancholy,  they  even  withdrew  the  rights  that  they 
had  granted  to  the  nobility. 

As  we  approach  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  a 
new  f act or,  _gassing  almost  unnoticed  at  first,  made 
itselfjelt  in  the  politics  of Ttaly.  Foreign  powers,  and, 
more  particularly,  France  and  Spain,  began  to  throw 
covetous  glances  in  the  direction  of  the  peninsula.  If 
there  had  been  a  grain  of  true  statesmanship  among  the 
princes,  or  a  spark  of  patriotism  among  the  people,  the 
peril  to  the  national  liberties  resulting  from  the  incursion 
of  overwhelmingly  powerful  foreign  states,  would  have 
made  all  discord  cease.  Instead,  the  Italian  govern- 
ments,  without  a  thought  or  a  scruple,  continued  to 
pursue  each  other  s  destruction :  now  it  was  Venice 
-k-a.gy?_4  with  the_pope  against  Milan,  now  Naples  with 
Milan  against  Florence,  and  again  some  other  combina- 
tion of  partners,  as  if  politics  were  a  drawing-room 
amusement  on  the  level  of  a  quadrille.  Siena  counted 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  397 

for  little  or  nothing  in  these  combinations  and  would 
have  preferred  to  observe  a  strict  neutrality.  However, 
that  was  not  always  possible.  In  the  year  1477  the  pope 
and  the  king  of  Naples  planned  a  war  against  Florence, 
Milan,  and  Venice,  and  as  they  could  most  conveniently 
reach  their  northern  enemies,  and  more  particularly, 
Florence,  through  the  territory  of  Siena,  they  obliged 
that  government  to  enter  into  alliance  with  them.  In 
the  struggle  that  followed  Florence  suffered  some  heavy 
losses,*  resulting  in  an  ephemeral  occupation  of  some 
of  her  territory  by  the  elated  Sienese.  This  short-lived 
triumph  almost  cost  the  sons  of  the  Virgin  their  po- 
litical existence,  for  the  leader  of  the  victorious  allies, 
the  Duke  of  Calabria,  on  being  admitted  into  Siena  with 
an  armed  host,  showed  a  strong  disposition  to  remain. 
As  soon  as  the  war  with  Florence  was  terminated  with 
a  general  peace  (1480),  he  engaged  in  intrigues  with  a 
group  of  local  supporters — chiefly  of  the  Noveschi — to 
play  the  town  into  his  hands.  Success  was  as  good  as 
assured  when  an  accident  intervened.  The  Turks  dis- 
embarked on  the  Neapolitan  coast,  and  the  Duke  of 
Calabria  was  hurriedly  recalled  to  protect  his  own  state 
and  people.  The  incident  deserves  a  place  in  this  rapid 
story  of  Siena's  fall,  first,  because  it  proved  that  the 
government  of  the  town  could  be  disturbed  by  any 
adventurer  who  came  on  horseback  at  the  head  of  an 
armed  force,  and  second,  because  the  treason  of  the 
Noveschi  precipitated  an  era  of  disturbances  which 
grew  into  a  political  bedlam  beyond  anything  recorded 

*  Above  all,  a  signal  defeat  at  Poggio  Imperiale  (1479)  in  the  Elsa  Valley. 
The  Sienese  signiory  ordered  a  pictorial  representation  of  the  victory  to  be 
made  for  the  palazzo.  The  poor  fresco  may  still  be  seen  adjoining  the 
splendid  Madonna  of  Simone  Martini. 


398  SIENA 

in  the  annals  even  of  Italy,  and  which  lasted  till  the  end 
of  the  republic. 

Into  the  story  of  this  last  mad  chapter  of  Sienese 
political  history  it  is  entirely  unprofitable  to  enter  except 
to  rescue  from  oblivion  two  important  episodes,  the  one 
connected  with  the  name  of  Pandolfo  Petrucci,  the  other 
with  Siena's  siege  and  heroic  end. 

I  have  already  spoken  in  general  terms  of  that  inter- 
esting phenomenon  of  Italian  history,  the  tyrant.  He 
is  the  strong  man  who,  when  the  confusion  in  the  city 
republics  became  intolerable,  seized  the  government  and 
reorganized  it  around  himself  as  master.  That  Siena 
with  its  plots,  street-fights,  and  banishments  was 
sedulously  preparing  the  way  for  such  an  end  of  its 
liberties  must  be  clear  as  day  to  whomsoever  has  atten- 
tively followed  the  vicissitudes  of  the  town.  Here  lies 
the  significance  of  Pandolfo  Petrucci,*  the  story  of 
whose  rise  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  that  of  Cosi- 
mo,  founder  of  the  Medicean  fortunes  in  neighboring 
Florence. 

Pandolfo  and  his  family  belonged  to  the  Noveschi, 
who,  we  have  just  seen,  were  involved  in  the  intrigues 
woven  around  the  person  of  the  Duke  of  Calabria. 
When  the  intrigues  came  to  naught  the  intriguers  found 
themselves  hoist  by  their  own  petard.  In  consequence 
of  popular  commotions  many  leading  Noveschi,  among 
them  the  Petrucci  family,  were  banished,  and  the  whole 
monte  was  presently  declared  excluded  forever  from  the 

*  For  Petrucci  consult  Pecci,  "Memorie  Storico-critiche  della  Citta  di 
Siena,"  Vol.  I.  To  correct  Pecci,  the  panegyrist,  read  Mondolfo,  "Pan- 
dolfo Petrucci,  Signore  di  Siena."  The  political  duel  between  Petrucci  and 
Caesar  Borgia  is  treated  by  Lisini,  "Bull.  Sen.,"  VI — a  splendid  episode 
worthy  of  close  study  on  the  part  of  every  critic  of  the  Renaissance. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  399 

government  (1483).  The  decree  had  been  in  force  four 
years  when  the  Noveschi,  who  were  rich  merchants  with 
powerful  connections,  overthrew  their  adversaries.  In 
the  early  morning  hours  of  July  22,  1487,  Pandolfo  and 
his  friends  scaled  the  wall  at  Fonte  Branda,  took  pos- 
session of  the  Campo,  drove  the  rulers  from  the  palace, 
and  reformed — that  was  the  euphonious  expression 
hallowed  by  usage — the  government.  The  changes 
which  followed  during  the  next  years  need  not  engross 
our  attention  further  than  to  take  note  that  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Noveschi  kept  constantly  growing,  and  that 
part  passu  increased  the  family  power  of  the  Petrucci, 
represented  by  Pandolfo  and  his  brother  Jacopo. 
When  Jacopo — he,  too,  a  clever  politician — died  in 
1497,  Pandolfo  added  his  brother's  authority  to  his  own. 
In  the  same  year  the  Consiglio  Generate  practically 
resigned  the  responsibilities  of  government  for  a  term 
of  five  years  into  the  hands  of  a  committee  or  Balia,*  in 
which  the  partisans  of  Pandolfo  had  a  clear  preponder- 
ance. Such  a  step,  concentrating  the  authority  in  a 
few  hands,  was  an  open  avowal  that  the  old  democratic 


*  For  the  evolution  of  the  magistracy  of  the  Balia  see  Paoli's  monograph, 
"Del  Magistrate  della  Balia  nella  Repubblica  di  Siena,"  published  in  the 
"Atti  e  Memorie  della  Accademia  dei  Rozzi  (1879)."  I  called  attention  in 
chap.  5  to  the  early  habit  of  appointing  Balie  or  special  committees,  and 
showed  how  some  of  them  became  permanent  magistracies.  All  through  the 
period  of  the  republic  such  Balie  continued  to  be  appointed  to  wrestle  with 
difficulties  arising  in  connection  with  finance,  administration,  and  so  forth. 
Beginning  with  1455  we  note  a  change.  Owing  to  the  need,  in  a  grave  crisis 
of  that  year,  of  secrecy  and  dispatch  which  could  not  be  secured  by  the 
ordinary  channels  of  government,  the  Consiglio  Generale  gave  full  powers  to 
a  special  Balia  "qui  congregentur  de  per  se  et  habeant  eandem  auctoritatem 
quam  nunc  habent  Magnifici  Domini,  Capitaneus  Populi,  etc."  This  Balia 
was  manifestly  a  kind  of  dictatorship  for  a  limited  period.  The  growing 
difficulties  favored  a  more  and  more  frequent  resort  to  it,  until,  in  the  time 
of  Pandolfo,  it  quietly  made  itself  permanent. 


400  SIENA 

constitution  was  no  longer  practicable.  Whenever  the 
Balia  approached  the  end  of  its  term,  its  authority  was 
renewed,  and  thus  the  same  group  continued  in  power, 
serving  as  the  convenient  mantle  beneath  which  a 
private  citizen  concealed  his  autocratic  rule.  Cosimo 
de'  Medici,  a  half  hundred  years  before,  had  estab- 
lished the  same  kind  of  latent  tyranny  in  Florence, 
maintaining  it  by  means  of  a  ring  of  political  friends 
who  shared  the  offices  and  honors.  InJFlorence  and 
Siena,  which  did  not  keep  standing  armies,  but  onTy 
engaged  foreign  soldiery  as  the  need  arose,  a  prospective 
master  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  not  to  force, 
frankly  and  openly  asserted,  but  to  the  prudential  com- 
binations  and  subterranean  methods  of  the  professional 
politician.^ 

"T'andolfo  had  to  present  a  bold  front  in  two  directions, 
first,  against  the  domestic  enemies,  ambitious  men  of 
his  own  temper  who  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  being  able 
to  rally  the  people  by  the  cry  of  liberty,  and,  second, 
against  Siena's  foreign  foes,  chief  of  whom  was,  now  as 
always,  Florence.  The  local  enemies  he  got  rid  of  by 
the  means,  usual  among  the  Italian  city  tyrants, 
of  banishment  and  assassination.  Some  sixty  men, 
it  has  been  calculated,  paid  for  their  opposition  to 
his  supremacy  with  their  lives,  among  them  some 
of  his  earliest  friends  and  nearest  relatives.  In  that 
famous  manual  for  despots,  "The  Prince"  of  Mac- 
chiavelli,  we  can  read  in  words  which  have  a  glint 
like  steel,  how  a  man  new  to  power  must  never  let  his 
hand  be  stayed  by  weakness  or  pity.  When  Pandolfo's 
own  father-in-law,  Niccolo  Borghesi,  persisted  in  cross- 
ing his  plans,  the  tyrant  plotted  his  destruction.  On 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  401 

June  19,  1500,  as  Niccolo  was  returning  home  from  the 
duomo,  he  was  struck  down  by  hired  assassins.  Apart 
from  such  domestic  incidents,  we  must  recognize,  if  we 
wish  to  be  fair  to  the  general  character  of  Pandolfo's 
rule,  that  Siena  was  tranquil  under  him  as  hardly  ever 
in  her  history,  that  trade  flourished,  and  that  the  un- 
scrupulous tyrant  enjoyed  great  popularity  not  only 
among  the  men  of  his  own  monte,  but  among  the  people 
in  general.  Macchiavelli,  the  all-observing  Florentine, 
has  expressed  the  opinion  *  that  Pandolfo's  power  had 
its  root  in  the  little  armed  force  of  three  hundred  men 
which  the  city  took  into  its  employ  to  maintain  order, 
and  of  which  he  had  the  captaincy.  Of  course 
Pandolfo  was  only  too  ready  to  confirm  his  position 
with  the  aid  of  soldiers,  if  necessary,  but  the  fact 
remains,  reflecting  considerable  credit  on  the  deftness 
and  effectiveness  of  his  system,  that  he  maintained 
himself  among  so  restless  a  people  as  the  Sienese 
largely  by  the  sole  weight  of  his  masterful  personality. 
In  Pandolfo's  day  occurred  the  successive  invasions 
of  Italy  by  France  and  Spain  which  prepared  the  en- 
slavement of  the  peninsula.  In  the  presence  of  the  two 
western  giants  even  Milan,  Florence,  and  their  peers 
counted  for  little,  and  a  state  of  the  slender  resources  of 
Siena  became,  of  course,  almost  negligible.  Critics  of 
Pandolfo's  foreign  policy  fluently  charge  him  with  timid- 
ity, coupled  with  a  flagrant  lack  of  creative  leadership. 
As  if  Siena  would  have  made  herself  other  than  ridicu- 
lous by  a  swash-buckler  attitude!  The  best  thing  a 
small  state  in  love  with  life  could  hope,  in  the  terrible 
trial  through  which  the  peninsula  was  passing,  was  to 

*  "Discorsi  sopra  la  Prima  Deca  di  Tito  Livio,"  C.  VI,  del  1.  3. 


402  SIENA 

keep  from  under  the  wheels  of  the  Juggernaut.  That  is 
what  Siena  accomplished  under  Pandolfo's  leadership; 
not  much,  if  you  will,  but  the  utmost  possible  under  the 
circumstances.  Neighboring  Florence,  it  is  true,  went 
through  a  crisis  which  offered  a  rare  opportunity  for 
aggression  and  seemed  to  superficial  observers  to  herald 
the  demise  of  the  merchant  city.  Pisa  revolted,  while 
Montepulciano  and  Arezzo  soon  followed  the  bold 
example.  Many  Tuscans  thought  and  declared  that 
with  a  little  determination  the  Red  Lily  might  be  hum- 
bled in  the  dust.  But  Pandolfo  knew  better.  Taking 
cool  inventory  of  the  resources  of  the  Florentines  and 
the  value  of  their  tried  alliance  with  the  King  of  France, 
he  moved  among  the  pitfalls  of  contending  factions  with 
extreme  caution.  Of  course  he  hated  Florence  as  a 
good  Sienese  must,  and  in  his  heart  wished  all  enemies 
of  the  Arno  city  well,  not  scrupling  to  lend  them  secret 
help  whenever  he  could  in  the  form  of  money  and  sup- 
plies, but,  when  asked  to  join  openly  and  without 
reserve  the  movement  against  Florence,  he  always  drew 
back.  Some  modern  scholars  have  declared  their  horror 
of  this  system  of  lying  professions  of  friendship  for 
Florence,  coupled  with  secret  machinations  with  all  her 
enemies;  they  have  declared  Pandolfo  a  person  of  mean 
stature  without  talent  and  sincerity.*  Sincerity  in  the 
age  of  Caesar  Borgia!  A  person  so  afflicted  would  have 
done  well  to  get  himself  a  suit  of  motley  at  once.  I  say 
again  that  Pandolfo's  diplomacy  was  anything  but  edify- 
ing; that  its  note  was  prudence,  a  prudence  imposed 
upon  it  by  the  feebleness  of  the  Sienese  state;  and, 

*  This  is  the  view  of  Burckhardt,  "  Cultur  der  Renaissance,"  I,  chap.  4. 
Even  Mondolfo  in  his  careful  sketch  of  Pandolfo's  policy  inclines  to  this  view. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  403 

finally,  I  assert  that  as  its  aim  was  and  could  be  nothing 
higher  than  the  conservation  of  the  independence  of 
Siena,  we  can  not  refuse  some  credit  to  Pandolfo  for 
having  weathered  a  storm  which  wrought  the  ruin  of 
Milan  and  Naples,  not  to  mention  a  half-score  of  lesser 
Italian  states. 

A  close  examination  of  Pandolfo's  career  will  disclose 
that  he  did  not  differ  essentially  from  the  other  tyrants 
of  his  day.  His  secretary,  Antonio  da  Venafro,  was 
once  asked  by  Pope  Alexander  VI  how  his  master  kept 
the  turbulent  Sienese  under  control.  "By  lies,  Your 
Holiness,"  was  Antonio's  prompt  reply — colle  bugle! 
That  was  the  system  of  every  tyrant  of  Italy,  to  which 
the  more  desperate  sort,  like  the  Baglioni  of  Perugia 
and  the  Bentivogli  of  Bologna,  added  indiscriminate 
slaughter,  and  an  occasional  genius,  like  Caesar  Borgia, 
military  skill  and  an  unlimited  enterprise.  The  active 
will,  at  least  in  the  form  of  that  colossal  daring  which 
we  encounter  in  the  adventures  of  Caesar,  was  not  among 
the  qualities  with  which  nature  had  endowed  Pandolfo 
for  better  and  worse.  A  single  glance  at  his  portrait,* 
showing  a  lean  man  with  high  philosophical  forehead 
and  watchful  eyes  beneath,  will  confirm  the  impression 
conveyed  by  his  acts,  that  we  are  face  to  face  with  the 
manipulator  of  men,  the  sleepless  planner,  the  politician. 
A  heavy  and  protruding  underlip  is  a  blot  in  a  counte- 
nance not  without  distinction  and  suggests  periods  of 
misanthropic  gloom  and  sudden  lapses  into  vulgarity. 
And  of  episodes  illustrating  the  latter  tendency  his  life 
was  certainly  not  free.  He  was  already  an  invalid  on 

*  An  engraving  from  a  portrait  said  to  be  by  Peruzzi  will  be  found  as 
frontispiece  to  Pecci,  "  Memorie,"  etc. 


404  SIENA 

the  verge  of  the  grave  when  he  became  enamored  of  a 
woman  of  the  people,  Caterina  from  the  Salicotto  region, 
a  filthy  quarter  where  the  poor  were  herded.  The 
Sienese  smiled  maliciously  at  their  lord's  infatuation  for 
the  smith's  daughter  and  saddler's  wife,  whose  height 
and  general  bulk  had  won  for  her  the  amusing  sobriquet 
of  the  Two-handed  Sword.  But  Caterina's  buxom 
charms  did  not  restore  Pandolfo  to  gaiety  and  health. 
In  the  spring  of  the  year  1512  he  tried  the  baths  of  San 
Filippo,  whence,  finding  no  relief,  he  started  back  for 
Siena.  But  death  was  in  pursuit  and  overtook  him  on 
the  way.  On  May  21,  at  the  little  town  of  San  Quirico, 
he  breathed  his  last. 

While  Pandolfo' s  career  offers  a  resemblance  in  many 
points  to  that  of  Cosimo  de'  Medici,  the  fortunes  of 
their  respective  descendants  differ  widely.  Cosimo,  by 
the  lucky  circumstance  of  a  capable  family  succession, 
founded  a  dynasty,  whereas  Pandolfo's  heirs,  as  vicious 
as  they  were  incompetent,  frittered  away,  in  a  surpris- 
ingly short  time,  the  hard-won  prestige  of  their  father. 
Four  years  after  Pandolfo's  death,  his  son  and  suc- 
cessor, Borghese  Petrucci,  had  to  flee  from  Siena  for 
his  life.  For  a  number  of  years  (1516-22)  Borghese's 
cousin,  Raffaele,  who  enjoyed  the  powerful  support  of 
the  Medicean  pope,  Leo  X,  held  sway,  and  on  his  death, 
Fabio,  a  younger  son  of  Pandolfo's,  was  called  to  the  su- 
preme position  in  the  state.  When  Fabio,  a  thought- 
free  youth,  more  occupied  with  love  than  with  affairs 
of  state,  was  banished  in  1524,  the  Petrucci  chapter  of 
Sienese  history  came  to  an  abrupt  close. 

Having  rid  themselves  of  a  threatening  dynasty  the 
Sienese  were  again  masters  of  their  own  fortunes.  The 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  405 

Noveschi,  the  mpnte  from  which  Pandolfo  issued  and 
upon  which  he  chiefly  leaned,  hoped  to  assume  his 
inheritance,  but  a  rising  of  the  people  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Libertini,  the  friends  of  liberty,  overthrew 
them,  and  punished  them  with  the  usual  measures  of 
exclusion  from  the  honors  and  banishment  from  the 
city.  The  news  was  highly  distasteful  to  Pope  Clement 
VII,  with  whom  the  Noveschi  maintained  a  strict 
alliance.  Clement  resolved  to  interfere,  animated,  it 
would  seem,  by  the  secret  reflection,  natural  enough  in 
a  born  Florentine  and  a  Medici,  of  making  the  oppor- 
tunity serve  to  crush  Siena  once  and  for  all,  and  to 
subject  it  to  his  house.  He  sent  a  papal  army  against 
Siena,  supported  by  a  considerable  Florentine  force. 
Then  occurred  wonders  in  the  city  which  for  over  a 
century  had  exhibited  so  many  ominous  signs  of  decrep- 
itude. Then  was  seen  that  one  thing  and  only  one 
could  heal  the  bitter  divisions  of  the  townsmen:  the 
fear  and  hatred  of  Florence.  The  approach  of  Clement's 
army  lit  a  patriotic  fire  in  every  heart,  and  with  spirits 
consecrated  as  in  the  days  of  Montaperti  by  a  renewed 
offering  of  the  city  to  Madonna,  the  Sienese  prepared 
to  meet  the  foe.  On  July  25,  1526,  the  citizen  levies 
fell  unexpectedly  on  the  hostile  forces  camped  outside  of 
Porta  Camellia,  and  drove  them  from  the  field.  In  the 
sheer  explosive  energy  of  a  consuming  passion  the  victory 
of  Camollia  may  fairly  be  coupled  with  the  stroke  which 
gave  the  Arbia  a  place  in  the  immortal  verse  of  Dante. 
The  angered  Clement  became  involved  at  this  juncture 
in  a  war  with  Emperor  Charles  V  and  saw  ruin  descend 
on  himself  and  Rome  in  the  form  of  Bourbon's  army. 
In  place  of  plundering  &iena,  thepope's  own  sacred  seat 


406  SIENA 

was  put  to  a  terrible_sack  (1527^.  Siena,  rescued  from 
danger,  ^ughtlhealliance  of  the  mighty  Charles,  whose 
protection  se^rtedto  promise  amplemimunity  against 
the  further  ill-will  of  the  pope. 

But  the  protector,  once  admitted  within  the  gates, 
himself  began  to  play  the  part  of  master.  Charles,  it 
must  be  acknowledged,  had  some  justification  for  his 
encroachments.  He  began  by  condescending  to  play, 
from  his  lofty  eminence,  the  part  of  friend  and  modera- 
tor. Again  and  again  he  counselled  the  Sienese  to  end 
their  local  quarrels,  readmit  their  proscribed  citizens, 
and  live  in  peace.  In  the  year  1536  he  came  in  person 
and  gravely  repeated  his  advice.  Not  only,  in  spite  of 
these  exhortations,  did  murder  and  violence  continue 
to  reign  within  the  walls,  but,  owing  to  the  weakness  of 
the  government,  law  and  order  ceased  also  to  be  enforced 
in  the  countryside.  By  virtue  of  a  treaty  of  the  year 
1 5^ptjCharles,  in  order  the  better  to  protect  Siena,  had 
put. a  Spanish  garrisonjn^  the  town.  Imperceptibly  his 
representative  increased  the  scope  of  his  powers,  until 
h.e  ga.Y-?  a^dkice_to_die_maMstrates  on  all  affairs  of  im- 
portance,  assumed  the  pojicing  of  the  territory,  and 
made  hlmseirvirtual  governor  of  the  state.  Finally,  in 
the  year  1547,  he  took  a  step  in  which  the  Sienese  unani- 
mously recognized  the  end  of  those  liberties  which, 
though  they  consistently  abused,  they  nevertheless 
loved  instinctively  and  deeply.  He  began  the  construc- 
tion of  a  fortress  on  the  hill  of  San  Prospero,  the  public 
garden  of  the  present  day,  from  which  he  could  easily 
dominate  the  city  with  his  artillery.  Repeatedly  the 
Sienese  sent  ambassadors  to  Charles  to  beseech  him  to 
respect  the  independence  of  the  republic;  again,  as  in 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  407 

other  grave  crises  of  the  state,  they  went  in  solemn 
procession  to  the  cathedral  to  invoke  the  protection  of 
the  Virgin.*  By  the  side  of  these  peaceful  measures, 
however,  they  did  fail  to  take  more  practical  steps  by 
opening  secret  negotiations  with  the  agents  of  the 
French  king,  in  the  assurance  that  that  sovereign  was 
always  eagerly  ready  to  encourage  any  opposition  which 
might  manifest  itself  against  his  rival  of  Spain.  In 
accordance  with  carefully  laid  plans  the  Sienese  rebel- 
in  the  summer  of  the  year  1552.  The 


Spaniards,  taken  by  surprise,  were  obliged,  after  a  brief 
resistance,  to  abandon  both  the  city  and  the  fortress. 
A  treaty  secured  them  an  unmolested  retreat  (August 
5th).  As  they  filed  out  of  the  fortress  between  dense 
masses  of  exultant  citizens,  some  Sienese  youths  ad- 
dressed a  polite  greeting  to  the  commander,  Don 
Franzese,  whose  gracious  manners  had  secured  him  the 
personal  attachment  of  a  large  circle.  "I  thank  you 
for  your  good-will,"  answered  that  gentleman;  then 
bowing  a  dignified  farewell  to  the  company  he  added 
significantly:  "You  Sienese  have  done  a  handsome 
stroke,  but  bear  yourselves  discreetly  in  the  future,  for 
you  have  offended  too  great  a  man."f 
The  revolt  of  Siena  from  Emperor  Charles  V  was  one 

*  It  may  be  noted  at  this  point  that  Siena  dedicated  itself  five  times  to  the 
Virgin,  in  1260,  in  1483,  iff  1526,  in  1550,  and  in  1555.  A  brief  record  of  the 
special  circumstances  connected  with  each  case  will  be  found  in  Heywood 
"Palioand  Ponte,"  p.  40  ff. 

t  Sozzini,  p.  88.  I  refer  to  his  "Diario  delle  Cose  Avenute  in  Siena  da  20 
Luglio  1550  al  28  Giugno  1555,"  published  in  "Arch.  Stor.  It.,"  II  (1842). 
For  the  siege  consult  the  above  vivid  book  of  Sozzini,  an  eye-witness;  also 
Montalvo,  "Relazione  della  Guerra  di  Siena"  (ed.  by  Ricomanni  and  Grot- 
tanelli,  1863),  Monluc,  "  Commentaires  et  lettres"  (ed.  by  Alphonse  de 
Ruble,  1864).  Very  important,  as  a  means  of  controlling  Monluc,  is  Cour- 
teault,  "Blaise  de  Monluc  Historien,"  Paris,  1908. 


408  SIENA 

of  a  series  of  actions  in  Italy  and  Germany  which 
inaugurated  a  new  general  war  between  that  sovereign 
and_h:is_rival  of  France^  In  the  world-game  played  by 
the  two  rulers  in  the  sixteenth  century  Siena  had,  by  the 
accident  of  geographical  position,  become  a  point  pos- 
sessed of  a  certain  strategical  advantage,  and  each 
would  attempt  to  hold  it  against  the  other.  To  such 
a  pass  had  the  new  political  organization  of  Europe 
brought  the  ancient  commune.  She  could  maintain 
herself  only  by  leaning  on  one  or  the  other:  Spanish 
yesterday,  she  might  be  French  to-day  and  Spanish 
again  to-morrow,  but  she  could  never  more  belong  to 
herself  alone.  Strange  to  say  neither  the  people  noi 
their  leaders  saw  this  simple  fact,  which,  to  our  per- 
ception, looms  as  palpable  as  a  mountain.  They 
actually  believed  they  were  defending  their  liberties — 
a  term  on  which  the  history  of  the  town  throws  a  lurid 
light — and  hugged  to  their  breasts  the  ignorant  hope  of 
being  able  to  treat  as  equals  with  France  and  Spain. 
If  this  was  an  illusion,  it  is  at  least  to  be  said  for  the 
Sienese  that  they  gave  themselves  to  it  with  such  sincer- 
ity that  they  reached  in  this,  the  final  chapter  of  their 
history  as  a  free  republic,  a  level  of  heroism  rarely  at- 
tained by  any  people,  great  or  small,  ancient  or  modern; 
for  heroism  is  independent  of  reason  and  success,  and 
often  puts  forth  its  fairest  flower  in  the  niggard  soil 
of  lost  hopes  and  desperate  causes. 

In  January,  1553,  Charles  made  his  first  attempt  to 
recover  the  town.  His  army,  moving  northward  from 
Naples,  presently  spread  through  the  Val  di  Chiana, 
with  the  end  in  view  of  establishing  a  military  base  in 
Sienese  territory.  The  Spanish  commander  had  not 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  409 

yet  completed  this  action,  the  necessary  preliminary  to 
the  contemplated  siege,  when  he  was  recalled  by  the 
necessity  of  defending  Naples  against  the  Turkish  fleet, 
sent  westward  by  the  sultan  in  aid  of  his  ally,  the 
French  king.  Siena  celebrated  the  withdrawal  in  the 
usual  way  with  a  religious  procession,  followed  by 
bonfires  and  brazen  fanfares  from  the  battlements,  but 
the  relief  was  only  temporary.  In  January,  1554,  the 
Spaniards  returned,  in  close  alliance  this  time  with 
Cosimo,  Duke  of  Florence — a  most  ominous  circum- 
stance in  the  eyes  of  every  thinking  Sienese.  The 
great  Charles  alone  was  an  enemy  of  weight,  but  Charles 
in  alliance  with  the  hereditary  foe  of  Siena  might  well 
fill  the  mind  with  evil  prognostications.  The  com- 
mander-in-chief  of  the  Imperialist  forces  was  the  Mar- 
quis of  Marignano,  who  began  hostilities  by  boldly 
pitching  his  camp  before  the  Porta  Camollia  along  the 
northern  or  Florentine  road. 

Henry  II,  King  of  France,  was  prepared  to  be  at  con- 
siderable pains  to  preserve  a  town  in  his  obedience  which 
afforded  his  army  its  only  foothold  in  central  Italy.  In 
the  very  month,  therefore,  in  which  Marignano  reopened 
the  hostilities,  he  sent  one  of  his  marshals,  Piero  Strozzi,  to 
act  as  his  vicar-general  for  Italy,  and,  more  particularly, 
to  conduct  a  vigorous  defence  of  Siena  against  the 
Spaniards.  Strozzi,  the  head  of  an  ancient  Florentine 
family  which  had  gone  into  exile  rather  than  suffer  the 
tyranny  of  Duke  Cosimo,  could  be  counted  on  to  carry 
a  fiery  and  venomous  zeal  into  the  struggle.  His 
military  talents,  too,  were  of  no  mean  order.  Com- 
manding a  small  French  troop,  which  he  hoped  to 
enlarge  presently  by  well-equipped  reinforcements  from 


410  SIENA 

the  north,  and  supported  by  the  ardent  citizen  levies  of 
Siena,  he  faced  with  confidence  the  problem  of  defending 
the  town.  It  is  indicative  of  the  regeneration  of  the 
inhabitants  effected  by  the  inspiring  occasion,  that 
though  they  had  long  ago  permitted  their  ancient  mili- 
tary organization  to  fall  into  complete  decay,  they  now 
gladly  presented  themselves  to  serve  with  spade,  panier, 
pike,  arquebus,  or  whatever  arm  the  defence  of  their 
beloved  country  seemed  to  require. 

Both  Marignano  and  Strozzi  were  hampered  for  a 
time  in  the  execution  of  their  plans  by  the  insufficient 
number  of  their  troops.  Any  offensive  action,  on  the 
part  of  Strozzi,  was  out  of  the  question  till  the  arrival 
of  succor,  while  Marignano  with  his  thin  line  of  be- 
siegers could  not  effectually  blockade  the  city.  In 
April,  however,  the  Imperialists  scored  a  notable  suc- 
cess by  seizing  the  lofty  villa,  Belcaro,  and  the  ancient 
Munistero,  both  crowning  hills  outside  Porta  San 
Marco  and  commanding  the  important  Maremma  road. 
Summer  was  on  hand  before  Strozzi  got  assurance  of  the 
dispatch  from  the  north  of  the  longed-for  reinforce- 
ments. At  the  word  he  undertook  the  execution  of  a 
plan  which  was  surely  not  lacking  in  imaginative  daring. 

The  French  were  to  come  in  two  divisions  by  routes 
carefully  kept  secret,  one  force,  composed  of  Swiss, 
across  the  Apennines  to  Lucca,  the  other,  made  up  of 
Gascons  and  Germans,  by  sea  from  the  ports  of  France 
to  Viareggio.  On  June  n,  1554,  with  the  fall  of  night, 
Strozzi  slipped  out  of  Siena,  leaving  a  garrison  sufficient 
to  man  the  walls;  made  his  way  westward  by  a  cir- 
cuitous route;  crossed  the  Arno  at  Pontedera;  and 
successfully  established  a  junction  with  the  Swiss  at 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  411 

the  appointed  place  of  meeting.  As  soon  as  the  fleet 
had  disembarked  the  other  auxilliaries,  with  an  army 
which,  for  the  moment,  would  completely  outnumber 
that  of  Marignano,  he  intended  to  swoop  down  on 
undefended  Florence.  It  was  a  plan  worthy  of  his 
hatred  of  the  Medicean  tyrant  of  his  native  city,  but 
dependent  on  the  cooperation  of  too  many  individ- 
ual wills.  The  French  admiral  failed  to  put  in  a  prompt 
appearance — in  resentment,  it  was  said,  of  the  royal 
order  which  subordinated  him  to  Strozzi's  command — 
and  Strozzi,  after  a  few  days  of  waiting  near  Lucca,  had 
to  give  up  his  enterprise.  He  recrossed  the  Arno  in 
order  to  be  within  reach  of  Siena,  and  at  last  received 
the  news  that  the  French  fleet  had  appeared  off  the  coast 
of  the  Maremma,  several  weeks  behind  the  appointed 
time.  Recovering  from  his  profound  disappointment, 
he  met  the  new  arrivals,  and  then  led  his  united  troops 
back  to  Siena,  quickly  prepared,  after  the  fashion  of 
sanguine  men,  to  work  out  another  plan. 

On  July  15,  the  French  army  entered  the  city  which 
it  had  come  to  save  with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
of  war.  Alessandro  Sozzini,  one  of  the  cheering  citi- 
zens, tells  us  how  the  parti-colored  raiment  of  the  Ger- 
man arquebusiers  and  the  gallant  bearing  of  the  French 
pikemen  delighted  a  people  who  fed  greedily  on  every 
spectacle.*  Of  greater  moment,  however,  to  us  of  a 
later  age  is  that  among  the  new  arrivals  was  a  man  who 
could  wield  a  pen.  I  refer  to  Monsieur  Blaise  de 
Monluc,  appointed  by  Henry  II  at  Strozzi's  own  request 
to  serve  as  governor  of  the  town.  A  poor  Gascon 
gentleman  by  birth,  who  had  entered  the  royal  service 

*  Sozzini,  p.  264. 


412  SIENA 

as  soon  as  he  could  swing  a  sword,  he  had  been  ad- 
vanced in  honor  for  the  sole  reason  of  merit  until  he 
ranked  with  the  best  soldiers  of  his  day.  Loyal  to  his 
king  with  every  drop  of  his  blood  and  full  of  frank 
admiration  for  brave  men,  fair  women,  good  wine,  and 
all  similar  bounties  of  a  generous  earth,  he  was  just  the 
man  to  appreciate  the  exalted  mood  of  the  Sienese. 
Late  in  life,  during  a  period  of  leisure  forced  upon  him 
by  a  bullet  wound,  he  sat  down  to  write  his  autobiog- 
raphy— an  amazing  book,  which  Henry  IV  called  the 
"Soldier's  Bible,"  and  which  treats  of  the  Sienese  siege 
with  a  vividness  obliterating  all  the  intervening  years. 

Strozzi's  new  plan,  the  second  string  to  his  bow,  was 
as  follows :  Departing  from  Siena  with  the  bulk  of  his 
troops,  he  would  establish  a  base  in  the  rich  Chiana 
valley  to  the  east,  whence  he  could  provision  Siena  at 
pleasure  in  case  Marignano  continued  the  siege.  If 
Marignano,  on  the  other  hand,  abandoning  Siena, 
fastened  upon  his  heels,  he  would,  under  favoring  cir- 
cumstances, put  everything  upon  the  arbitrament  of  a 
battle.  The  second  eventuality  came  to  pass.  Strozzi 
had  hardly  left  Siena  (July  17)  when  the  Imperialists 
made  ready  to  follow.  Some  days  of  manoeuvring  in 
the  Chiana  region  followed,  reaching  a  fitting  climax  in 
a  great  shock  of  arms  on  August  2,  1554,  at  the  castle  of 
Marciano.  Through  a  series  of  mishaps,  among  which, 
according  to  Sienese  tradition,  treason  had  a  part, 
Strozzi  was  not  only  defeated  but  overwhelmed.  Some 
of  his  men,  casting  away  their  armor  and  weapons, 
made  their  way  back  to  Siena;  Strozzi  himself  with  the 
remnant  of  his  horse  escaped  to  friendly  Montalcino. 

Siena,  breathless  for  news  of  the  host  manoeuvring  to 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  413 

the  east,  heard  only  too  soon  of  the  events  of  that 
August  day  of  fierce  sunshine.  Toward  evening  the 
first  stragglers  appeared,  bleeding,  covered  with  dust 
and  sweat,  and  dropping  from  sheer  exhaustion  in  the 
streets.  "Never  did  spectacle  so  claim  compassion  as 
this  of  the  poor  wounded,  and  especially  the  plight  of 
the  French  and  Germans,  who  uttered  sobbing  cries 
and  held  out  their  hands,  asking  for  water  and  a  bit  of 
salt  for  their  wounds;  so  that  men  and  women  brought 
them  salt,  bread,  and  wine,  and  aided  them  as  best  they 
could.  And  I  swear  that  I  saw  more  than  a  hundred 
men  lean  against  a  wall,  unable  to  restrain  their  tears 
for  pity  of  these  poor  soldiers  reduced  to  the  last 
extremity."* 

The  destruction  of  Strozzi's  field  army  sounded  the 
doom  of  Siena.  The  victorious  Imperialists  could  now 
return,  complete  the  blockade  without  hindrance,  and 
starve  the  town  into  surrender.  Cold  reason  might 
urge  the  citizens  to  end  the  struggle,  but  patriotism  had 
been  fanned  to  a  consuming  flame,  and  patriotism 
whispered  to  die  rather  than  yield.  This  resolution, 
taken  by  the  rulers,  was  in  harmony  with  the  set  de- 
termination of  the  citizen  body;  needless  to  say  it  had 
the  enthusiastic  approval  of  the  buoyant  and  grandilo- 
quent commander,  Blaise  de  Monluc. 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  August  2,  the  blockade  of 
Siena,  maintained  in  a  loose  way  since  January,  became 
close  and  complete.  And  immediately  prices  rose  and 
a  shortage  announced  itself  in  all  articles  of  food. 
Loyal  peasants  who  tried  to  drive  cattle  or  carry  vege- 
tables to  market  were  seized  by  the  Spaniards,  plun- 

*  Sozzini,  p.  272. 


414  SIENA 

dered^of  their  goods,  and  hanged  up  by  the  roadside  as 
a  warning  to  their  fellows.  All  around  the  city  the  oaks 
bore  among  the  acorns  of  that  autumn  this  horrible 
human  fruit.  Strozzi,  off  at  Montalcino,  transmitted 
hopeful  messages  of  stores  upon  the  way,  to  be  followed 
by  a  new  French  army  sent  to  his  good  Sienese  by  their 
beneficent  protector,  Henry  II,  but  apart  from  a  few 
pack-asses  who  occasionally  broke  through  the  Spanish 
lines  under  cover  of  night,  nothing  happened  to  lighten 
the  growing  burden  of  starvation.  With  Strozzi  indeed 
rests  no  blame.  He  did  what  he  could  by  sending  stirring 
appeals  to  the  French  court,  but  was  unable  to  rouse  the 
distant  government  from  the  apathy  which  had  over- 
taken it  with  regard  to  all  things  Italian. 

The  siege  in  this  final  phase  lasted  eight  terrible 
months.  On  Christmas  eve,  Marignano,  stirred  by  an 
impatient  message  from  Duke  Cosimo  at  Florence,  re- 
solved to  bring  matters  to  a  conclusion  by  a  general 
assault.  His  preparations  were  carefully  made,  but 
were  not  kept  so  secret  as  to  escape  detection.  Two 
hours  past  midnight  the  great  bell  of  the  Mangia  tower 
boomed  forth  the  news  to  the  sleeping  city;  the  citizens 
and  soldiers,  springing  from  their  beds,  ran  to  their  ap- 
pointed posts;  and  the  attack  was  victoriously  repelled. 
Thenceforth  Marignano  contented  himself  with  the 
slower  methods  of  starvation.  The  soldiers  taunted 
one  another  from  behind  trench  or  bulwark;  occasionally 
cavalry  bands,  supported  by  arquebusiers  on  foot,  skir- 
mished in  the  valley  below  Porta  San  Marco;  or  again 
Marignano  enlivened  the  tedium  of  camp  life  by  drop- 
ping a  few  canon  balls  into  the  town — such  incidents  as 
these  afforded  food  for  daily  gossip  but  did  not  incline 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  415 

the  balance  one  way  or  another.  The  real  work  of  the 
siege  was  done  by  hunger  and  disease.  Cattle  soon 
ceased  to  be  brought  to  market,  and  asses,  dogs,  cats, 
and  rats  were  greedily  devoured.*  If  a  peasant  got 
through  the  lines  with  a  basket  of  figs  or  nuts,  he  was 
surrounded  in  a  moment  by  a  shouting  and  gesticulating 
crowd,  wildly  outbidding  one  another  for  his  dainties. 
The  poor  picked  the  weeds  from  the  crevices  of  damp 
walls  and  made  them  into  a  soup.  The  magistracy, 
which,  for  the  purpose  of  a  better  control,  had  con- 
fiscated all  grain  and  flour  within  the  walls,  saw  with 
anxiety  the  shrinkage  of  supplies,  and  repeatedly  cut 
down  the  weight  of  the  daily  loaf  allotted  to  each 
soldier  and  citizen.  Finally,  desperately  resolved  to 
leave  no  stone  unturned,  the  defenders  decided  to  get 
rid  of  the  bocce  disutili — the  useless  mouths  which 
had  to  be  fed,  but  did  not  strengthen  the  resistance. 
The  wonderfully  expressive  phrase  illustrates  the  view- 
point of  a  grim  and  patriotic  people  brought  face  to  face 
with  disaster.  As  early  as  September  the  expulsions 
began,  involving  sometimes  the  peasants  who  had  fled 
from  their  homes  before  the  harrying  Spaniards,  some- 
times the  serving  classes  who  waited  upon  the  well-to- 
do,  and  at  last,  the  very  orphans  of  the  hospital.  Oc- 
casional bands  of  these  expelled  wretches  the  Imperial- 
ists charitably  let  pass  their  lines;  others  they  sternly 
thrust  back  toward  the  walls  and  trenches,  where,  equally 
rejected  by  both  sides,  they  were  left  to  wander,  like 
the  wailing  souls  of  Limbo,  till  death  brought  relief. 


*  Monluc,  II,  p.  89.  "Les  chatz  se  vendoinct  trois  et  quatre  escuz,  et 
le  rat  ung  escu" — at  least  those  are  the  figures  Monluc  remembered  fifteen 
years  after  the  event. 


416  SIENA 

It  was  on  October  5  that  two  hundred  and  fifty  chil- 
dren from  the  famous  hospital  of  the  Scala,  ranging  from 
six  to  ten  years  of  age,  were  led  to  the  gate  of  Fonte 
Branda.  Accompanied  by  a  group  of  men  and  women 
who  desired  to  improve  the  opportunity  to  effect  their 
own  escape,  they  set  out  with  the  fall  of  night,  carrying 
their  slender  effects  in  bundles  or  thrown  across  the 
backs  of  asses.  They  had  not  proceeded  far  upon  their 
way  before  they  were  challenged  by  a  Spanish  guard- 
whereupon  in  the  dark  ensued  a  terrible  scene  of  wanton 
wickedness,  and  when  the  morning  dawned  the  survivors 
of  that  hapless  caravan,  sobbing,  bleeding,  robbed  of 
everything,  were  back  at  Fonte  Branda  gate.  "The 
spectacle  would  have  made  a  Nero  weep,"  says  an  eye- 
witness, who  adds  that,  unable  to  shake  off  the  horrible 
impression,  he  could  neither  eat  nor  drink  for  three 
days.* 

But  let  it  not  be  imagined  that  the  long  and  tragic 
struggle  spread  an  atmosphere  of  unbroken  gloom  over 
the  city.  The  natural  gaiety  and  mercurial  disposition 
of  the  Sienese  did  not  desert  them  in  these  days  of  trial, 
and  often  filled  the  streets  with  laughter  and  amusement. 
Monluc,  who  shared  the  faith  that  men  were  no  worse 
fighters  for  a  little  cheerfulness,  saw  many  a  sight  which 
stirred  his  pulse  and  filled  him  with  admiration. f  On 
January  13,  for  instance,  some  youths  improvised  a 
dance,  un  hallo  tondo,  in  the  Campo.  Then  with 

*  Sozzini,  p.  307. 

f  His  admiration  for  the  women  of  Siena,  who,  from  the  lowest  to  the 
highest  classes,  presented  themselves  to  work  with  the  men  at  the  trenches 
and  bastions,  led  him  to  compose  one  of  the  most  charming  passages  of  his 
book.  "II  ne  sera  jamais,  dames  siennoises,  que  je  n'immortalize  vostre 
nom,  tant  que  le  livre  de  Monluc  vivra:  car,  a  la  verite,  vous  estes  dignes 
d'immortelle  louange  si  jamais  f  emmes  le  f  eurent."  Then  he  relates  how  at  the 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  417 

mounting  zest  they  played  at  pallone  *  with  half  the 
city  looking  on  amidst  applause;  and  finally,  at  a 
trumpet  signal,  they  divided  as  of  old  into  three  bands 
according  to  terzi,  and  played  with  unabated  passion  at 
the  rude  and  vigorous  game  of  pugna.  The  French 
commander,  surrounded  by  a  group  of  his  transalpine 
officers,  looked  on  at  the  wild  frolic,  and  was  so  amazed 
at  the  unquenchable  vivacity  which  could  shake  off  the 
sadness  of  the  time,  that  a  wave  of  emotion  passed  over 
him  and  filled  his  eyes  with  tears.  Hardly  was  the 
game  ended  when  the  cry  arose  from  all  sides:  alle 
guardie,  alle  guardie.  "And  in  a  flash  they  rushed  from 
the  piazza  to  get  their  weapons  and  present  themselves 
at  their  appointed  posts. "f 

At  last  when  spring  came  and  no  French  army  was 
on  the  way  for  their  relief,  the  famished  burghers  saw 
that  they  had  no  alternative  but  to  surrender.  They 
opened  reluctant^  negotiations  with  Charles — his^aljy. 
Duke^  Cosimo,  playing  the  part  of  mediator — and  after 
longjliscussions,  on  April  17,  1555,  a  treaty  was  drawn 
up  which,_i£saving  appearances  for  the  besieged,  none 
fheless^  signified  snhje^ti^rf  "f  The  French  garrison 
was  to  march  out  with  the  honors  of  war,  but  Sienaliad 
to  accept  the  protection  ^)f  the  emperor,  who  received 
the__right  to  change  the  government  and  to  occupy  the 


beginning  of  the  siege  the  noble  and  well-to-do  ladies  divided  themselves  into 
three  companies  with  leaders,  banners,  and  appropriate  and  beautiful  cos- 
tumes, and  how,  company-wise,  they  marched  each  day  to  their  work,  singing 
a  song  in  honor  of  France  as  they  fared  along.  And,  says  the  emphatic 
soldier,  "I  would  give  my  best  horse  if  I  could  remember  that  song  to  quote 
it  here."  Monluc,  II,  pp.  55-56. 

*  A  variety  of  foot-ball. 

t  Sozzini,  p.  354. 

J  The  treaty  will  be  found  in  Pecci,  "Memorie,"  etc.,  IV,  aiS/. 


418  SIENA 

town  with  his  troops.  Under  the  circumstances  an 
additional  article,  declaring  that  the  republic  retained 
its  liberties,  was,  of  course,  meaningless.  And  that 
was  the  view  of  a  group  of  patriots  who  in  literal  truth 
preferred  exile  and  death  to  living  in  subjection.  When, 
therefore,  on  April  21,  the  gates  were  thrown  open  and 
Monluc,  preceded  by  his  arquebusiers  and  pikemen, 
marched  out  with  drums  and  banners  like  a  conqueror, 
there  went  with  him  a  company  of  eight  hundred 
Sienese,  who  turned  their  steps  toward  Montalcino, 
resolved  to  live  out  their  days  on  earth  in  the  little 
mountain  town  as  freemen  wearing  no  lord's  livery. 
Monluc  has  left  a  moving  picture  of  these  heroic 
victims  on  the  march,  showing  us  the  old  women  and 
infants  seated  on  sumpter  mules  amidst  the  wreck  of 
their  belongings,  while  the  rest  plodded  along  on  foot, 
many  an  old  man  leading  his  wife  by  one  hand  and  his 
daughter  by  the  other.*  Arrived  at  Montalcino,  which, 
with  some  of  the  neighboring  points  of  Southern  Tus- 
cany, was  still  occupied  by  the  French  and  not  in- 
cluded in  the  capitulation,  they  set  up  what  in  a  spirit 
of  stubborn  pride  they  called  "The  Sienese  Republic 
in  Montalcino."  The  republic,  according  to  their  view, 
was  to  be  found  wherever  there  were  unconquered 
Sienese. 

A  few  hundred  feet  from  the  Roman  gate,  by  which 
he  issued  forth,  Monluc  was  met  by  his  opponent, 
Marignano,  who  had  won  the  reputation  during  the 
siege  of  being  both  an  efficient  and  a  courteous  com- 
mander. Leaning  from  their  horses  they  embraced 
effusively,  and  fared  along  together  for  a  space,  discuss- 

*  Monluc,  II,  p.  102. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  419 

ing  with  the  easy  comradery  of  men-at-arms  the  inci- 
dents of  the  late  campaign.  The  occasion  was  of  the 
sort  to  draw  out  all  of  the  Gascon's  native  talent  for 
dramatic  display.  He  tells  us  that  he  condescended  to 
point  out  to  Marignano  some  of  the  mistakes  which  that 
general  had  made  in  the  conduct  of  the  siege.  "Un' 
altra  volta  saro  piu  savio,"  quietly  responded  the  well- 
bred  Italian,  showing  thereby  that  he  could  use  his 
tongue  quite  as  effectively  as  his  sword.*  On  taking 
leave  of  one  another,  Marignano  rode  back  to  lead  his 
Spaniards  into  the  conquered  town,  and  presently  the 
ringing  of  bells  and  the  roar  of  artillery  declared  that 
Siena  had  again  passed  under  the  dominion  of  the 
emperor. 

The  aging  Charles  did  not  enjoy  the  recovery  of 
Siena  long.  In  the  very  year  of  the  surrender,  broken 
by  the  burden  of  life,  he  began  to  relinquish  his  honors 
and  possessions  to  his  son  Philip,  and  Philip,  hard- 
pressed  like  his  father  by  the  &mg  ot  France,  soon  dis- 
covered that  his  position  in  Italy  required  close  and 
unrelaxing  vigilance.  In  order  to  keep  the  valuable 
friendship  of  Duke  Cosimo  of  Florence,  he  was  presently 
obliged  to  cede  to  that  sovereign  Siena  and  all  her  terri- 
tory (July  3>  I557)-  it  is  only  too  plain  that  Cosimo, 
wHp  was  one  of  the  subtlest  of  diplomats,  had  been 
workinj^steadily  toward  this  end  ever  since  he  offered 
to  help  Charles  subdue  the  recalcitrant  city.  Naturally 
he  was  not  minded  to  let  Montalcino  and  the  southern 
rim  of  the  Sienese  contado  escape  his  grasp.  Following 
his  custom,  he  watchfully  bided  his  time,  and  when,  in 
tEe  year  1559,  in  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis.  Henry 

*  Monluc,  II,  p.  104. 


420  SIENA 

II  agreed  to  hand  over  the  last  French  outpost  in  Tus- 
cany to  Philip,,  Cosimo  was  on  hand  to  remind  his 
Spanish  friend  that  Montalcino  was  indubitably  implied 
in  the  cession  of  1557.  Thus  "the  Sienese  Republic  in 
Montalcino,"  after  four  years  of  undaunted  struggle 
against  the  fates,  came  to  an  end,  and  over  the  undivided 
territory  of  Siena  reigned  the  House  of  Medici.*  The 
state  was  not  fused  with  the  Florentine  state,  for  it 
maintained  a  separate  administrative  existence,  but 
henceforth  it  snared  with  Florence  a  common  sovereign 
and  a  comrnon^3estin^._  In  this  limited  sense  Siena 
had,  after  a  stubborn  resistance  prolonged  through  four 
centuries,  been  at  last  subjected  to  the  rule  of  the  rival 
commonwealth.  Perhaps  it  would  correspond  more 
nearly  with  the  facTs  to  declare  that  both  citieshad 
ims  *•«">  frh<*  nile_and  vigor  of  the  Medi- 


The  reader  who  has  followed  with  sympathy  the  long 
story  of  the  commonwealth  of  Siena  will  not  refuse  to 
share  the  grief  of  the  citizens  over  its  end.  And  yet,  if 
he  listens  to  the  voice  of  reason,  he  will  be  forced  to 
acknowledge  that  the  end  was  prepared  by  ineluctable 
necessity,  and  came  in  the  fulness  of  time.  To  every 
thing  under  the  heavens  there  is  a  season.  Thus  for 
the  free  communes  there  was  a  season  which  opened 
to  them  an  escape  out  of  the  prison  of  feudalism,  and 
which  endowed  man  with  a  new  conception  of  his 
powers  and  purposes.  The  communes  have  the  im- 
mense merit  of  having  created  a  new  civilization,  a 

*  For  these  last  events  and  arrangements  consult  Pecci,  "Memorie," 
etc.,  IV. 


THE  TWILIGHT  OF  SIENA  421 

civilization,  in  fact,  with  the  elaboration  of  which  the 
world  has  been  occupied  down  to  our  own  day.  In  the 
glory  of  the  city  republics  of  Italy,  in  the  immortal 
achievements  of  Venice,  Milan,  Florence,  and  the  rest, 
Siena  has  a  small  but  assured  share.  But  time  revolved 
and  the  season  came  for  political  organizations  of  an 
ampler  sort.  Then  it  was  that  Siena  began  to  show 
signs  of  gathering  perplexity  and  insufficiency.  She 
could  not  solve  the  problem  of  a  stable  government;  she 
could  not  protect  from  robbery  and  violence  the  country 
population  committed  to  her  care;  she  could  not  main- 
tain her  independence  except  by  binding  herself,  at  the 
sacrifice  of  dignity,  to  a  protector.  It  was  as  right  as 
it  was  inevitable  that  she  should  terminate  her  career  by 
being  gathered  under  a  government  representing  all 
Tuscany,  regrettable  though  it  was  that  Tuscany  in  its 
turn  was  not  gathered  under  a  government  which  em- 
bodied the  unity  of  the  Italian  people.  Against  that 
natural  consummation  of  the  impressive  development 
which  had  given  the  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula  a 
common  speech,  common  interests,  and  a  common 
culture,  fate  had,  for  the  present  at  least,  set  its  face. 
None  the  less,  if  Italian  unity  was  delayed,  its  coming 
was  certain,  and,  as  a  measure  of  preparation,  the  disap- 
pearance of  the  Sienese  republic  imposed  itself  by  the 
logic  inherent  in  events. 

Thus,  coolly,  the  historian,  occupied  with  the  objec- 
tive study  of  man  in  society,  records  a  political  catas- 
trophe, but  even  as  he  writes  he  is  reminded  by  his 
quickened  pulses  that  the  heart  has  a  share  in  human 
events  which  is  beyond  the  control  of  reason.  No 
argument  of  science  can  rob  death  of  its  sting,  and 


422  SIENA 

no  overthrow  of  a  heroic  people  will  fail  to  stir  our 
regret;  for,  says  the  poet,  contemplating  the  end  of 
the  last  of  the  Italian  communes — the  end  of  Venice, 

"Men  are  we,  and  must  grieve  when  even  the  shade 
Of  that  which  once  was  great  has  passed  away." 


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INDEX 


ADEODATTJS,  bishop  of  Siena,  24,  27. 

Agniolo  di  Tura,  211. 

Alaric,  12,  13. 

Aldobrandeschi,  40,  65;  as  lords  of 
Grosseto,  122;  at  Montaperti, 
178,  180;  and  the  Nine,  203-4; 
slow  decay  of,  231-2. 

Alexander  VI  (Pope),  403. 

Alleluia  (The)  of,  1233,  251. 

Ambrogio  (The  Blessed)  of  Siena, 

255- 

Andrea  Dei,  198,  205. 

Ansano,  Sant',  Sienese  protomartyr, 
ii,  22,  28,  85,  183,  317. 

Antimo,  Sant',  41. 

Aquinas  (Saint  Thomas),  on  gam- 
bling, 349- 

Arbia,  176,  179,  182. 

Ardengeschi,  40,  61,  62,  65. 

Arezzo,  quarrel  with  Siena  over 
eighteen  parishes,  22-4,  52,  76; 
bishop  of  acquires  immunities, 
42;  divides  body  of  Sant'  Ansano 
with  Siena,  85;  is  subjected  to 
Florence,  389. 

Army,  composition  of  in  cities,  164- 
6;  army  of  Siena,  281. 

Arti.     See  guilds. 

Asciano,  157,  161. 

Augustus,  founder  of  Roman  Siena, 
9- 

BABYLONISH  Captivity,  terminated, 
270. 

Balestre  (cross-bows),  166-7. 

Baiia,  128,  129,  130;  as  governing 
committee,  399-400. 

Banking  companies  of  Siena,  99, 
109;  their  connection  with  the 
papacy,  110-12;  the  Buonsignori 
112-3;  signs  of  decay  of,  225;  ac- 
quire castles  in  the  contado,  236-7. 

Baratteria.     See  gambling. 

Barili,  335. 

Bartoli  (Taddeo),  326. 

Battaglie.     See  games. 

Bells  (of  Siena),  296-8. 

Beneventum  (Battle  of),  187. 


Benincasa,  Jacopo  and  Lapa,  par- 
ents of  Saint  Catherine,  259. 
Benvenuto  di  Giovanni,  328. 
Bernardino  (San),  355;   sermons  of, 

394- 

Bernardo  (The  Blessed),  255. 

Biccherna,  144-6;  housed  on  Cam- 
po,  296. 

Bishop  of  Siena,  acquires  immuni- 
ties, 42^-4;  receives  submissions  of 
nobles,  63;  himself  subjected  to 
Siena,  63;  review  of  his  position,  72. 

Black  Death.     See  grande  mortalita. 

Boccaccio,  211,  241;  popularizes  the 
novella,  356. 

Bolgano  (the  Sienese  mint),  147;  on 
Campo,  294.  gj 

Boni  homines,  49-50. 

Borghesi  (Niccolo),  assassinated, 
400-1. 

Borgia  (Caesar),  402,  403. 

Breve  consulum,  54,  128. 

Buonconvento,  201. 

Buonsignori  (The),  112-3. 

Byzantine  art,  311-2. 

CACCIACONTI,  40,  61,  62  (note),  65, 
i57,  230. 

Calabria  (Duke  of),  in  Siena,  397. 

Camarlingo  (The),  145,  373. 

Camollia  (terzo).  See  terzi  and 
porla. 

Campo,  212;  its  position,  276;  gov- 
ernment buildings  erected  on,  294; 
form  of,  301;  fountain  on,  304; 
jousting  on,  330-40;  life  on,  348- 
52;  games  on  during  siege  (1555), 
416-7. 

Caorsini,  101. 

Capella  di  piazza,  209. 

CapUano  di  gtterra,  204. 

Capocchio,  257. 

Captain  (The)  of  the  People,  134, 
142. 

Carroccio,  78,  167-8. 

Castellano,  235. 

Castel  Vecchio  (castellum  vetus),  8, 
43,  276. 


427 


428 


INDEX 


Castiglione  d'Orcia,  240-1. 

Castruccio  Castracane,  202. 

Catherine  (Saint),  258  /.;  her  re- 
tirement, 260;  enters  the  world, 
261;  her  ecstasies,  263;  and 
Niccold  Tuldo,  265-6;  and  Flor- 
ence, 267  ff.;  and  the  pope,  268  ff.; 
at  Avignon,  268-9;  death  of,  272; 
her  Letters,  355. 

Cecco  Angiolieri,  353-4. 

Chains  (of  Siena),  201. 

Champagne,  fairs  of,  96  ff. 

Charlemagne,  destroys  Lombard 
kingdom,  30;  is  crowned  em- 
peror, 30. 

Charles  IV  (Emperor),  comes  to 
Italy  and  Siena,  213,  218-9;  de- 
feated by  the  Sienese,  221-2,  262. 

Charles  V  (Emperor),  protects 
Siena,  405-6;  Siena  revolt  against, 
407;  orders  siege  of  Siena,  408  ff.; 
abdicates,  419. 

Charles  of  Anjou,  186,  187,  188,  189, 
190. 

Chiusdino,  362,  376,  385. 

Christian,  archbishop  of  Mainz  and 
Italian  legate,  56. 

Chronicles  (mediaeval),  character- 
ized, 207-8. 

Church  (The),  sources  of  power,  72- 
74;  dangers  threatening,  92-93; 
denounces  usury,  102;  elasticity 
of,  250;  the  Great  Schism,  271. 

Church  (The)  of  Siena,  relation  to  the 
state,  74-76;  early  dependence  of 
state  on,  86-8 7, 294 ;  clergy  of,  280- 1 . 

Cistercians  (Order  of),  362,  363; 
ideal  of,  366;  decay  of,  376-7; 
leaves  San  Galgano,  381. 

Cities,  struggle  against  feudal  sys- 
tem, 33-4;  Lombard  and  empe- 
ror, 55;  Tuscan  and  emperor,  55- 
6;  necessity  of  struggle  against 
feudalism,  60;  league  in  1197  of 
Tuscan  cities,  65. 

Citta  (terzo),  276-7. 

Churches  (Sienese):  S.  Cristofano, 
86,  141,  294-5,  307;  San  Pellegri- 
no,  86,  145;  San  Domenico,  260, 
273>  3°7!  San  Francesco,  307; 
Cathedral,  history  of,  283  ff.; 
Duccio  paints  for,  315. 

Cimabue,  313-4. 

Clement  VII  (Pope),  and  Siena, 
405-6. 


Clement  VII  (Anti-Pope),  elected, 
271. 

Clergy  (of  Siena),  its  ramifications, 
280-1. 

Colle  (Battle  of),  188-9. 

Comitatus,  36;  dissolution  of,  39; 
corresponds  with  diocese,  153;  of 
Florence-Fiesole,  153-4.  See  con- 
tado  and  county. 

Commerce,  first  quickening  of  in 
Middle  Age,  96;  early  Sienese, 
99-100;  growth  of,  113;  com- 
merce as  source  of  Sienese  wealth, 
117;  reprisals,  118-9;  as  cause  of 
political  expansion,  121—2;  in 
fourteenth  century,  225—6. 

Communal  liberties,  misconception 
as  to  their  origin,  25;  their  real 
origin,  45  ff. 

Commune,  birth  of,  52;  task  of  in 
Siena,  281-2. 

Companies    of    Adventure,    244-7, 

377-9- 

Company  of  the  Hat,  defeated  (1363), 
218,  246. 

Conrad  (of  Hohenstaufen),  171. 

Conradin  (of  Hohenstaufen),  136, 
187-8. 

Constitution  (Sienese)  of  1262,  75, 
130;  and  usury,  105;  analysis  of, 
140  ff.;  and  the  potesta,  143-4; 
and  heresy,  258. 

Constitution  (The)  of  1309-10, 
analysis  of,  196  ff. 

Constitution  (The)  of  Siena,  origin 
of,  129. 

Consuls,  origin  of,  50;  consuls  of 
Siena,  51-2,  128;  evolution  of, 
54;  passing  of,  67;  originally  city 
nobles,  69,  131;  of  peasant  com- 
munities, 233-4. 

Contado,  rule  of  Nine  in,  202-4; 
problems  and  conditions  of,  229  ff.; 
insecurity  in,  239^.  Seecomitatus. 

Contrade  (ward  societies  of  Siena), 

346-7- 

Cosimo  (Duke  of  Florence),  409, 
414,  417;  acquires  Siena,  419-20. 

Council  (The)  of  the  Bell,  131;  exer- 
cises sovereign  power,  141;  re- 
duced importance  of,  197;  hous- 
ing of,  294-5,  299;  power  of 
passes  to  Balia,  399-400. 

Count  (local  ruler),  36-7,  39,  44-5, 
47,  55- 


INDEX 


429 


County  of  Siena,  geographical  lim- 
its, 37- 

Cozzarelli,  335. 
Croce  di  Travaglio,  276. 
Cruelty  (mediaeval),  252-3. 

DANTE,  and  Siena,  115,  124,  152; 
as  throwing  light  upon  the  man- 
ners of  his  day,  151-3;  and  Fari- 
nata,  1 70;  and  Bocca  degli  Abba- 
ti,  181;  and  Provenzano  and 
Salvani,  188;  and  Henry  VII, 
200;  and  highwaymen,  241;  and 
Capocchio,  257;  and  Fonte  Bran- 
da,  303-4;  and  the  game  of 
Zara,  351;  and  Cecco  Angiolieri, 

354- 

Democracy,  in  Italian  communes, 
68;  as  basis  of  the  Sienese  consti- 
tution, 127;  its  limited  character 
in  Siena,  194  ff. 

Divieto  (prohibition  to  export  food), 
238. 

Dodici.    See  Twelve. 

Dodicini.     See  Twelve  and  monte. 

Dofano,  church  at,  85. 

Dominicans  (Order  of),  376. 

Duccio  di  Buoninsegna,  his  life  and 
works,  310-9. 

ECONOMIC  decay  (of  Siena),  225. 
Economic  policy,  of  government  of 

Siena,  237-9. 
Emperor,    Holy    Roman,    32;     his 

weakness,  33-4. 
Episcopatus  (diocese),  36. 
Etruscans,  4-8. 
Ezzelino  (lord  of  Treviso),  253. 

FAIRS,  of  Champagne,  96  ff.;  Italians 
at,  98;  Sienese  at,  99;  banking  at, 
106-8. 

Famines  (in  Siena),  210. 

Farinata  degli  Uberti,  170,  178,  185; 
saves  Florence,  186. 

Federighi,  300,  333.  _ 

Feudalism,  origin  in  Italy,  31-2; 
characteristics  of  33-4;  around 
Siena,  40-42;  emperor  upholds, 
60;  decay  of,  204,  229-31;  rela- 
tions of  lords  and  peasants  under 
233-4;  persistence  of,  248. 

Feuds  (of  families  in  Siena),  208  ff., 
242-3. 

Fifteen  (The).     See  Riformatori. 


Filippo  (Fra)  Agazzari,  355. 

Florence,  consuls  of,  52;  resists 
seizure  of  Montepulciano  by 
Siena,  66;  and  the  coinage  of 
money,  108;  commercially  jealous 
of  Siena,  121;  wars  with  Siena, 
I49ff-i  head  of  Tuscany,  199,  202, 
388;  quarrels  with  pope,  267-9; 
and  the  Renaissance,  326-7;  new 
ambitions  of,  389-92. 

Florin  (The),  108. 

Folgore  da  San  Gimignano,  340,353. 

Forteguerri,  40,  61,  237. 

Fortini  (Pietro),  356. 

Fountains:  Fonte  Branda,  259,  303; 
Fonte  Nuova,  304;  Fonte  d'Ovile, 
304;  Fonte  Follonica,  304;  Fonte 
Gaia,  304-5. 

Francesco  di  Giorgio,  328. 

Francis  (Saint),  in  Siena,  70,  376. 

Franks,  invade  Italy,  30;  their  ad- 
ministration, 36. 

Frederick  I  (Emperor),  55,  56. 

Frederick  II  (Emperor),  168-9,  170, 
374- 

GAIXJANO  (San),  his  life,  362-3. 

Galgano  (San),  history  of  abbey  of, 
362  ff.;  services  to  Siena,  373-4; 
decay  of,  380  ff. 

Gambling,  349-5*- 

Games  (Sienese),  jousting,  338-40; 
elmora,  341-2;  pugna,  342-4,  4*75 
pallone,  344,  417;  polio,  344-7. 

Gastald,  a  Lombard  official,  20-21, 
47,  88. 

Gates  of  Siena).     See  porta. 

General  Council.  See  Council  of  the 
Bell. 

Gentiluomini.   See  grandi  and  monte. 

Ghibellines,  136,  137,  155,  169; 
their  triumph  (1260),  185-6;  ex- 
cluded from  office,  196. 

Ghiberti  (Lorenzo),  358-60. 

Ghino  di  Tacco,  241. 

Gian  Galeazzo  (lord  of  Milan), 
390-2. 

Giordano,  Count  of  San  Severino, 
173,  176;  commander-in-chief  at 
Montaperti,  178;  enters  Florence, 
185;  identifies  the  body  of  Man- 
fred, 187. 

Giotto,  renews  painting,  313-4,  319. 

Giovanni  Colombini  (The  Blessed), 
256. 


430 


INDEX 


Giovanni  (San),  d'Asso,  61,  236-7. 

Godipert,  judge  of  Siena,  killed  by 
the  Aretines,  23. 

Grande  mortalita  (1348),  208,2 10-11, 
299. 

Grandi,  69,  70,  133;  excluded  from 
office,  138-9,  193;  in  revolution 
(1355),  213-5;  their  way  of  u'ving> 
278-9;  Pius  II  labors  in  behalf  of, 
394-6. 

Gregory  IX  (Pope),  268;  returns  to 
Rome,  270. 

Grosseto,  capture  by  Siena,  122-3; 
in  revolt,  173;  under  the  Nine,  203, 
231. 

Guelphs,  136,  137,  169;  Florence  as 
head  of,  155,  172,  199;  their  tri- 
umph "in  Tuscany,  190;  their 
triumph  in  Siena,  197,  199. 

Guidi  (The),  155,  156,  157,  161,  185. 

Guido  da  Siena,  311,  312. 

Guidoriccio  da  Fogliano,  321. 

Guilds,  origin  in  Siena,  114;  the 
wool  guild,  114-5;  regulations  as 
to,  1 1 6;  their  weakness,  117; 
merchant  guild  in  control,  195-6; 
small  guilds  against  Nine,  205-7; 
guilds  under  the  Twelve,  216-7; 
decay  of  wool  guild,  226-7;  signifi- 
cance of,  281. 

HAWKWOOD,  SIR  JOHN,  247,  378-9. 

Henry  II  (King  of  France),  ally  of 
Siena,  409. 

Henry  III  (Emperor),  issues  di- 
ploma to  Bishop  of  Siena,  42-3. 

Henry  VI  (Emperor),  grants  charter 
to  Siena,  56-7;  effect  in  Tuscany 
of  death,  64,  158;  protects  San 
Galgano,  364. 

Henry  VII  (Emperor),  comes  to 
Italy  (1310),  200;  before  Siena, 
201-2. 

Heresy,  in  Siena,  256-7. 

Hohenstaufen  (The),  136,  171,  191. 

Hospital  (Sienese)  of  the  Scala,  90-2; 
during  siege  (1555),  416. 

IMMUNITIES,  episcopal,  32-3,  41;  of 

bishop  of  Siena,  42^". 
Innocent  III   (Pope),  protects   San 

Galgano,  365. 
Inquisition  (in  Siena),  258. 
Interdict,     against     Siena,     111-2; 

against  Florence,  268. 


Italian  race,  origin  of,  28-9. 

Italy,  Union  of,  29-30,  249,  421; 
political  development  of  in  four- 
teenth century,  388;  threatened 
by  France  and  Spain,  396;  invaded 
by  France  and  Spain,  401,  408. 

JACOPO  DELLA  QUERCIA,  fountain  of 
305,  327;  as  innovator,  332-3. 

Jerome  St.,  laments  the  capture  of 
Rome,  12. 

Julius  II  (Pope),  380. 

Justice,  organization  of  in  Siena, 
146-7. 

LADY   (Our)  of  Mid-August.    See 

Virgin. 

Libra  di  Montaperti,  165. 
Lira  (property  tax),  148. 
Liutprand,  king  of  the  Lombards, 

24,  27. 

Lodo  (The)  of  1203,  154,  159. 
Loggia  della  Mercanzia,  307;   of  the 

Piccolomini,  307. 
Lombards,  coming  of,  14,  15;  extent 

of     conquests     in     Italy,     16-7; 

Roman    institutions    and,    18-9; 

their  administration,  20-1;  Latin- 

ization   of,    26-7;     fail   to   effect 

Italian  unity,  29-30. 
Lombardy,  revolt  of  cities  against 

emperor,  55. 
Lorenzetti  (Pietro  and  Ambrogio), 

their  work,  322-5. 
Lucca,  acquires  charter  from  Henry 

IV,  58- 

Lupertianus,  bishop  of  Arezzo,  22-3. 
Lysippus,  statue  by,  359-60. 

MACCHIAVELLI,  400,  401. 

Maconi  (Stefano),  265. 

Magna  Tavola,  112-3. 

Maitano  (Lorenzo  di),  286,  332. 

Malavolti,  their  feud  with  the  Pic- 
colomini, 208-9. 

Manenti,  40,  61. 

Manfred,  171;  and  Siena,  172-3; 
opposed  by  Charles  of  Anjou,  186- 

7- 
Mangia  (la  torre  del),  history  of,  297- 

8. 

Marciano  (battle  of),  412. 
Maremma,  in  revolt,  172,  173. 
Maria     (Santa)     della    Scala.     See 

Hospital. 


INDEX 


431 


Marignano  (Marquis  of),  commands 
Spaniards  (1554-5).  400-19- 

Masaccio,  327. 

Matteo  di  Giovanni,  328,  329. 

Matthew  Paris,  denounces  the  Ital- 
ian bankers,  101. 

Maurus,  early  bishop  of  Siena,  21,22. 

Medici  (Cosimo  de'),  398,  400,  404. 

Medici  (The),  acquire  Siena,  410-20. 

Mezza  genie  (of  Siena),  192-3;  in 
political  control,  195-6. 

Memmi  (Lippo),  designer  of  crown 
of  the  Mangia,  298. 

Milites,  132,  166,  339. 

Monasteries  (Sienese),  II  Monistero, 
88;  Sant'  Antimo,  41,  88;  San 
Salvatore,  42,  61,  88;  San  Gal- 
gano,  oo,  362  ff.;  Lececto,  90; 
San  Franceso,  90;  San  Domenico, 
oo;  Pontignano,  90. 

Monluc  (Blaise  de),  governor  of 
Siena,  411-9. 

Montalcino,  its  capture  (1202),  66, 
159;  siege  (1260),  175;  its  capt- 
ure (1260),  184;  Sienese  Republic 
in,  418,  420. 

Montaperti  (Battle  of),  ,179^. 

Monte,  defined,  216;  the  monti  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  216,  220;  the 
monte  del  Popolo,  224;  monti  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  393-5;  ascend- 
ency of  the  Noveschi,  397-405. 

Monte  Amiata,  203,  231. 

Monte  Maggio,  156. 

Montemassi,  203,  321. 

Monte  Oliveto,  255. 

Montepulciano,  quarrel  over,  66, 
159-60;  attack  on  by  Siena  (1207), 
161;  attack  (1229),  162,  164; 
captured  (1260),  175;  captured 
(1261),  184;  under  the  Nine,  203; 
in  revolt  (1357),  217;  revolt  of 
(1387).  390-1. 

NEROCCIO  DI  LANDI,  328, 329. 
Nicholas,   Count  of  Rocca,   230-1, 

233- 

Nine  (The),  origin  of,  137;  policy  of 
137-8;  basis  of  power,  193  ff.; 
foreign  policy  of,  198-200;  do- 
mestic relations  of,  204  ff.;  merits 
of,  212-3;  fall  of  (1355),  213-4; 
and  the  cathedral,  285,  287;  and 
Duccio,  316;  frescoes  in  chamber 
of,  322-5. 


Nobles  (of  Siena).     See  grandi. 
Nave  (I).     See  Nine. 
Noveschi.     See  Nine  and  monte. 

ORDER  of  Penance,  joined  by 
Saint  Catherine,  260-1. 

Orvieto,  cathedral  of,  292;  sculp- 
tures at,  332. 

Otto  I,  king  of  Germany,  conquers 
Italy,  32. 

Ovile  (a  quarter  of  Siena),  206,  223, 
226. 

PALACES:  Palazzo  Pubblico,  his- 
tory of,  293^7".;  Palazzo  Tolomei, 
302;  Palazzo  Sansedoni,  302; 
Palazzo  Salimbeni,  302;  Palazzo 
GrottaneUi,  302;  Palazzo  Buon- 
signori,  302;  Palazzo  Saracini, 
302;  Palazzo  Piccolomini,  307; 
Palazzo  Spannocchi,  307;  Palazzo 
Nerucci,  307. 

Polio  (The),  344-7. 

Pallone.     See  games. 

Pannochieschi,  40. 

Parish,  as  unit  of  administration,  47. 

Parlamentum,  54,  130. 

Pazzi  (Jacopo  dei)  at  Montaperti, 
181. 

Peasants,  their  share  in  overthrow  of 
nobility,  232—5;  their  condition, 
232-3;  their  burdens  under  city 
rule,  237/. 

Pedites,  132,  166. 

Petrucci  (Pandolfo),  career  of,  398- 
404. 

Petrucci  (The),  their  failure  as  a 
family,  404. 

Philip  II  (King  of  Spain),  surrenders 
Siena  to  Cosimo,  419-20. 

Piccolomini  (The),  their  feud  with 
the  Malavolti,  208-9;  reinstate- 
ment of,  395.  See  Pius  II. 

Pier  Pettignano,  254-5. 

Pietro  (Lando  di),  286,  334. 

Pisa,  acquires  charter  from  Henry 
IV,  58;  architecture  of,  290;  con- 
quered by  Florence,  392;  revolts, 
402. 

Pisano  (Giovanni),  285,  288,  331. 

Pisano  (Niccol6),  284,  330-1. 

Pius  II  (Pope),  canonizes  Saint 
Catherine,  272;  a  great  builder, 
307;  as  novelist,  356;  as  human- 
ist, 357;  his  Sienese  policy,  392-6. 


432 


INDEX 


Plebs  (pieve),  47-8. 

Poggibonsi,  157-9. 

Pope,  frustates  Italian  unity.  30; 
temporal  aspirations,  31;  a  bank- 
ing power,  100;  at  Avignon,  262. 

Popolo  (il),  of  Siena,  70,  133.  See 
societas  popoli  senensis. 

Popolo  minuto  (il),  220. 

Populus  (a  city  parish),  48. 

Porta:  Porta  Santo  Viene,  84,  183, 
306;  Porta  de'  Pispini  (same  as 
Santo  Viene);  Porta  Camellia, 
besieged,  156,  163;  encounter  be- 
fore (1260),  174;  Antiporta  of, 
306;  battle  before  (1526),  405; 
Porta  Romana,  306;  general  im- 
pression of  gates,  305. 

Potesta,  67;  origin  of  in  Siena,  67, 
133;  his  powers,  142-4. 

Poveri  Gesuati,  founded,  256. 

Prison  (of  Siena),  299. 

Provenzano  Salvani,  188-9,  295- 

Proweditori.     See  Biccherna. 

Provisino  (coin),  107. 

Pugna.     See  games. 

RAPPRESAGLIE,  118-9. 

Renaissance,  effect  on  Sienese  archi- 
tecture, 307;  resistance  to  by 
Sienese,  327;  slow  progress  of, 
357-9;  effect  on  fate  of  San  Gal- 
gano,  379-80. 

Riformatori,  their  origin,  220;  their 
rule,  221-4;  attempt  to  heal  local 
feuds,  222. 

Rocca  di  Tintinnano,  230,  233,  234, 
235;  in  hands  of  Salimbeni,  236, 
243;  capture  of  244. 

Roman  Institutions,  in  Lombard 
period,  18-9. 

Roman  Law,  its  revival,  38,  147. 

Rossetti  (Dante  Gabriel),  340,  353, 
354- 

Sacre  rappresentazioni,  352. 

Salimbeni  (The),  99,  139,  177;  their 
feud  with  the  Tolomei,  208-9,  2I9> 
242-3;  allied  with  the  Dodicini, 
219-20;  acquire  castles,  220,  236, 
237,  243;  and  Charles  IV,  221-2; 
their  wars  with  Siena,  243-4. 

Salimbene  (Fra)  of  Parma,  150,  151; 
on  religious  enthusiasm,  251. 

Salvatore  San  (Monastery),  42,  61. 

Sano  di  Pietro,  328. 


Santa  Fiora,  204,  231. 

Santa  Fiora,  Count  Jacopo  of,  204. 

Scabini,  37-8. 

Schism  (The  Great),  271. 

Self-government,  origin  of  in  cities, 
47  ff.;  in  Siena  by  charter  of  Henry 
VI,  60;  working  out  of  in  Siena,  1 27. 

Sermini  (Gentile),  356. 

Siena,  situation  of,  2-4;  an  Etruscan 
settlement,  4-8;  a  Roman  colony, 
8-15;  mediaeval  rebirth  of,  15  ff.; 
struggle  against  feudal  system,  35; 
early  voluntary  associations  in,  46; 
relations  of  with  emperor,  56;  ob- 
tains charter  from  Henry  VI,  57; 
wars  with  Florence,  149^".;  turns 
Guelph,  190,  192;  and  the  feudal 
nobles,  234-5;  and  the  bankers, 
236-7;  and  Saint  Catherine,  272- 
4;  mediaeval  divisions  of,  276  ff.; 
and  San  Galgano,  373jf.;  new  wars 
with  Florence,  389-92,  397;  sub- 
mits to  the  Visconti,  390-2;  new 
domestic  broils,  393-5,  398-9, 
405-6;  and  Pandolfo  Petrucci, 
398-404;  siege  of,  408 /. 

Simone  Martini,  work  of,  320-2. 

Soarzi,  40,  61. 

Societas  populi  senensis,  plans  to 
overthrow  the  nobles,  132;  its 
progress,  133-5;  excludes  nobles, 
139;  its  victory  partial,  194. 

Sodoma,  and  chapel  of  Saint  Cath- 
erine, 273. 

Sorore,  mythical  founders  of  Sienese 
hospital,  92  (note). 

Sozzini  (Alessandro),  eye-witness  of 
siege,  407,  411. 

Sport.     See  games. 

Stefano  di  Giovanni  (Sassetta),  328. 

Strozzi  (Piero),  commands  at  Siena, 
409-12. 

Submissions  (feudal)  to  Siena,  61,  63, 

79,  158- 
Superstition  (in  Siena),  257. 

TACITUS,  narrates  a  Sienese  incident, 

9- 

Tagliacozzo  (Battle  of),  188. 

Taipert,  gastald  of  Siena,  21,  22,  23. 

Talamone,  acquired  by  Siena,  124. 

Terzi  (The)  of  Siena,  141,  165,  276; 
rivalry  of,  342,  343, 

Thirteen  Guardians  of  the  Constitu- 
tion (/  Tredici  Emendatori),  142. 


INDEX 


433 


Tolomei  (The),  99,  112,  139;  against 

the  Nine,  205,  206;   feud  with  the 

Salimbeni,  208-9,  2I9.  242-3;  the 

Blessed  Bernardo,  255. 
Tuldo  (Niccol6),  265-6. 
Tuscany,  physical  character,  1-2. 
Twelve    (The),    in   control,    214-5; 

their  despicable  rule,  218-9;   an<^ 

the  cathedral,  287. 
Twenty-four   (The),   134-5,   177^8; 

their  fall,  190;    and  the  cathedral, 

283. 
Tyrant  (The),  explanation  of,  390; 

in  Siena,  398-404. 

UBERTI.     See  Farinata. 
Uguccione  della  Faggiuola,  202. 
University  (of  Siena),  357-8. 
Urban  VI  (Pope),  elected,  271. 
Usury,  102-4;  in  Siena,  105-6. 


VAL  DI  CHIANA,  war  in,  408,  412. 

Val  d'Orcia,  war  in,  243-4. 

Vanni  (Andrea),  273,  326. 

Vasari  (Giorgio),  on  painting,  313. 

Via  francigena,  120,  156. 

Virgin  (The),  worship  of  in  Siena, 
77;  the  festival  of  on  the  i5th  of 
August,  77^".;  Siena  dedicates  her- 
self to,  8 1  ff.;  games  in  honor  of, 
345-7;  renewed  dedications,  405, 
407. 

Volterra  (bishop  of),  founds  San 
Galgano,  362-4;  loses  power,  374- 

5- 

Visconti,  205;  Gian  Galeazzo,  390- 
2. 

WERNER  VON  URSLINGEN,  245. 
Zara  (game  of  chance),  351. 


3  1158  00093  8 


ARY. 


